Just Stone

He stood at the end of the hallway in the hotel just looking at it. His mind told him that there was no way a sculpture could just appear. As a science teacher, though, his curiosity was up. There had to be a logical explanation. He must have simply not noticed it before. He inched towards it, holding his breath. Even though he was a logical person, he was still human. Still run by human emotions. But why was he so terrified? It was just a statue right? However, he could not shake what he was feeling. He was now standing a foot in front of the face of a young boy on a pony. Reaching out, he knocked twice on the cold, stone surface. Definitely marble. It resonated with a hollowness that oddly unnerved him more than it calmed him. "See," he told himself, "just stone." He repeated this, trying to ignore the hot bursts of air he suddenly felt on his left hand. The hand directly in front of the pony's nose.

The Rogue Servant

A strike and suddenly life, force, energy where there wasn't any before. This nameless force shivers and shakes. It appears so fearful, and rightly it should be. I feel a draft and watch this servant obediently bow. It gracefully submits or possibly cowers to the invisible king. It's as if it knows that with enough force, the king could extinguish its very existence. But when the king leaves, he stands up tall and straight seizing the opportunity to now cast fear into others. He causes tears from those around him to pool at his feet. The shadows dance for him. The darkness runs away. The captives pour out fragrance in his honor. He smells of victory, and for a moment, he is king. His power comes from the immense heat he radiates. No one can touch him. They all shy away. He doesn't realize that those tears will eventually overtake him. The shadow dance will stop. The darkness will return. The fragrance will run out. He never suspects a thing when the invisible king returns in all his might. He overthrows the rogue servant, taking his life, his force, his energy. And just as quickly as he came, he's now gone. The last glow of his soul fading from his throne. His ghost rising until it becomes just a memory. The scent of death lingers, replacing the once pleasant fragrance. And he waits, for another strike, another chance to reign in his glass prison.

Different

**I wrote this as a final project for my online writing class but I felt it needed to be shared with the world so I present to you...

Different

I awoke this morning, and I opened my closet.
It was gone. My skeleton, the ghost of my secrets was gone.
Having come to life, it now stood on the corner for all the world to see.
Every dark desire, each tormenting terror out in the open.
Lightning shoots up my spine. We can’t accept different.
It waits unaware of the judge, the executioner that walks by
But I know. I feel. And I am afraid.

But wait.
Those ‘normies’ have skeletons too.
Maybe I’m not so different.
I see the people I try to be like,
Standing in shame.
Their perfect mask ripped away.

But I don’t judge them
Because no one judges me.
They’re too busy trying to catch them as they flee.
Racing around in a blur.
It’s like attempting to trap the dust
Of books long forgotten
When they’re suddenly thrown off the shelf.

They fail in their attempts.
Some even dying in the process-
A few accidental, most intentional-
The lengths to which we go to lock ourselves away.
But that’s what we do isn’t it?
Because we can’t stand for others to see.
We can’t be different.

Then, something amazing happened. Truly amazing.
A fellow neighbor, wrought with grief,
Found a better way to deal.
He brings his fleshless friend to my door.
“Take this,” he said.
“I can’t live with him anymore.”
I do, but I can’t have two
So I give him mine.

Then one by one, others caught on
And suddenly we all were swapping sins.
We embraced it, welcomed it.
Expose our lives to it.
To feel what it was like
To have that secret. To live with it day by day.
We now understand and
We are no longer afraid.

Once we realized one skeleton
Was the same as the next,
It took all power to judge.
The society lost its control and
The mold was finally broken.
Different was accepted, embraced.

“Don’t be like everyone else.”
Became the new normal.
We didn’t have to hide our true selves
To be accepted by others.
We began to empathize
Because we could, we knew how it felt.
We found a new power, real equality.

It is freeing to have that sort of power
Without abusing it.
We were courteous, with more love than ever.
Free and no longer alone
The world was our confidant, our mentor.
For once we were different, but united.

As such, the world became safer.
A better place to live, to raise families.
Violence diminished, suicide rates dropped.
Enemies became friends. We grew closer as a race.
One race. One color. One world.
We became livelier, more loving, more forgiving.

But then I heard a ringing, somewhere off in the distance.
Slowly I saw this scene fade and then
I was looking at my ceiling.
I shut off the alarm and crawled out of bed.
I locked my skeleton up, safe and sound.
Put on my mask then headed off to work.
Afraid to be different!

*Please feel free to comment on your thoughts! This is such a powerful, controversial piece that I'd love to hear them. :)

When Your Waitress Doesn't Smile

I know that if you have never waited tables or have a loved one who does that you do not always understand what goes on during a typical shift.  Therefore, I hope to educate some by giving just a glimps of what it's like.  As someone who has served for 5 years or so, I have dealt with a variety of people both good and bad.  Now I realize that some people just suck at this job.  They don't care and are just rude.  Trust me!  You can tell the difference between someone who's having  a bad day and someone who doesn't care.  When I go out to eat, I like to watch what's going on (ask my family and friends).  It helps me get a better picture of my waitress, if she is just very bad or is playing a part in this scenario:


     Enter party of 6 to table 44.  Well at least half of them anyways.  She gets drinks and an appetizer started.  As she's getting appetizer plate for the table and drinks for the man and two girls currently sitting, a kind old gentleman walks in.  He finally settles in table 46.  So far, not that bad of a night.  She goes and takes his drink order...a gin martini-straight up, dirty.  He also wants the TV changed to the Ole Miss game.  "Ok sir. Not a problem!"  He also decides to take a moment to order.
     She rings in the drink order in the computer and grabs the TV remote.  As she's changing the channel, the other 3 people come in to table 44.  She takes their drink orders and tells them about the specials.  She goes to get their drinks and stops back by table 46.  Still not ready to order, but he asks about his drink (which she's obviously not had time to run back to get--the TV remote is still in her apron for crying out loud). However, she sees that it is ready on the bar so she says she'll be right back with it.
      She goes to get the 3 other drinks from the kitchen area, sets them on a tray, walks back by the bar to pick up the martini, and realizes that she has had another table go down at 48.  She drops off the 3 drinks at 44 where the first 3 people have already guzzled down their drinks (one of which was a diet coke--she'll have to walk to the kitchen to get it).  She promises to refill them as soon as she can.  She looks around to see if her co-worker is available but sees she's just as busy taking an order at one table and at least another one that hasn't been greeted yet.
     She runs the martini by 46 where the man has now decided he's ready to order.  She glances at 48 where they have started counting seconds.  Luckily the man's order is short and easy.  She writes it down and rushes to take 48's drink order.  They ask for two sweet teas and an  appetizer so she rings in the app and runs to get the drinks.  As she goes to get their drinks, the kitchen is calling for runners (someone to take food that is ready out to the table it goes to).  A glance around reveals that no one else is around to hear it.  "Got it!" she screams.  She fills up 2 glasses with tea, one glass with diet coke (for the man at 44), puts it on a tray with 2 other tables' food, and heads out. 
     She takes the food by the tables where they procede to ask for extra dressings, A1, and one of the entrees is actually missing!  Their server walks up at the moment and she relays the message.  Then she drops the teas off at 48 with some appetizer plates she picked up on the way back up (she actually probably looks pretty silly with a huge tray and wooden jack for just two drinks and a couple of small plates).  Before she leaves, she says she'll be right back for their order.
     She sees that tables 45 and 47 have both gone down and remembers that 44 still hasn't ordered yet.  She grabs the diet coke off the tray and stops because she realizes she never rang in the man's order for 46.  She swings around to the computer to ring it in and grabs a pitcher of sweet tea off the edge of the bar.  She also grabs some menus for the two tables.  She drops them off saying she would be right back and heads for table 44.
     She refills their drinks and asks if they are ready to order.  They say yes so she sets the pitcher down to write their order.  It's not too complicated but they do have some questions and one little girl has to rethink her order because they are out of what she wanted.  Needless to say, it takes a few minutes.  Finally, she finishes and can go greet the two other tables.  She doesn't know which one was first so she stops and the closest one, table 45.  She apologizes for it taking so long and gets their drink order-two sweet teas and a coke.  They haven't decided on an appetizer yet. She gives them a minute and moves on to table 47 and does the same thing.  They want a glass of wine and a beer. She finishes her spill with the specials and hurries off to ring in table 44's order, 47's drinks, and get drinks for 45. At this point, she is thankful that her section is now full.
     **At this point I'm going to skip over all the other business--her going back to take food orders, ringing them in, and keeping drinks filled while they wait on their food. There's still plenty of action going on believe me, but most of it's redundant. Cut to the end of the meals.
     Table 44 finishes their food and gets their check dropped off.  They do not pay right away so she lets them take their time. Soon after the man at 46 and the couple at 47 finish too.  She gets their tickets where they both pay promptly with credit cards.  She heads back to the computer to take their payment, but on the way, 48 stops her and asks for a box and bowl for their leftover food and soup.  Also it's the girl's birthday and she would like a dessert--strawberry cheesecake.  She says that she'll get it for her and will be right back with the boxes.
     She takes payment first, then heads down to get the boxes and a bag (she always gets a bag for them if they have more than two to-go items because it's easier to carry). She comes back and drops the payments off, thanks them, and wishes them a good night. Then she heads to table 48 where she offers to box up their food for them.  She makes conversation during this and learns a little about her guests (when she has time, this is her favorite part of the job). She finishes about the time that someone brings up the girl's cheesecake.  She wishes her happy birthday again and excuses herself to let them eat.
      She grabs a spray bottle and towel to wipe off the two now vacant tables.  As she's doing this, she notices that only one person remains at table 45 so she stops what she's doing and goes to print their check. (This is where it starts to get interesting!)  As she is dropping it off, the woman still at the table says she would like to see a manager about the check (the one she hasn't even seen yet). The woman procedes to explain that the guy didn't like his pasta and this was his first time here and he would like it taken off (despite him having eaten all but like 2 bites). The waitress smiles and politely says I will go get her.
      Now the manager, being a busy woman herself, is not easy to find.  It takes the girl a minute but eventually catches up with her and explains what is going on.  She hands her the check, and the manager walks back up to the table.  At this point, the girl is informed that she has another table (her co-worker has now finished her shift and is working on going home so her section is now combined with the other girl's) however the bartender has already gotten their drinks, she just needs to ring them in.  
     The manager has now resolved the problem with table 45 and they are ready to pay, along with table 44.  They both pay with $100 bills.  Of course she doesn't have change for 200 dollars so since the to-go person is now gone, she has to find the bartender who has taken over to-go orders and is outside with a car.  She patiently waits but the guests can see her.  To them it probably looks like she's not doing anything.  She's stuck helpless to do anything while they grow ever impatient. When she finally does get a chance to get change, she counts it out quickly and returns it to the tables, wishing them both a happy night and thanking them.
       She ends up with $2.05 from table 45, more than what she was expecting.  She continues to wait on the new table and continues on with her night.
    

If this seems hard to follow, then you realize just how much goes through your server's mind everytime you go out to eat on a busy night.  Even if it's not busy, you can watch and see that your server is doing the best she can.  This scenario played out in a span of about an hour.  You might have expectations for how your night's going to go, but she can't help who comes into her section or what she has to deal with.  So next time, maybe you'll be a little more patient, ask for extra items when she's taking the order to save her some steps, or just simply stop being so uptight long enough to remember your server is a person too.  She has feelings and whether it looks like it to you, she really does care about her job and her guests she waits on.  Because you remember that extra dressing that you asked for and never got?  She didn't forget.  I promise!  It was only stored away in her mind where after getting in bed after midnight, she woke up at 3:30 in the morning only to remember that she never took it to you!

How I Came to Enjoy Housework

This is a little lengthy but I felt I needed to share. I hope someone gets as much of a blessing as I did when the Lord told it to me over a basket of clothes! :)

There have been times when I've struggled, as I'm sure many a new (and possibly experienced) housewife has, at the amount of on going housework. Couple that with the fact a lot of women work all day or night as well and it can be downright overwhelming sometimes. However tonight, I'm taking a new perspective on it! I'm glad, even thankful, that my house is never perfect and sometimes messy. Yes, I said it, and here's why.

-I'm thankful for a sinkful of dishes because that means that my husband and I have had a good meal that I was fortunate enough to buy and cook.

-I'm thankful for the bottomless dirty laundry hamper because it means I have way more than an abundance of clothes and a time saving way of washing/drying them.

-I'm thankful for the ever dusty floors and carpets to sweep and vacuum because I could be walking on a dirt floor instead.

-I'm thankful for unmade beds because it sure beats not having one.

-I'm thankful for toilet seats that are not put down and showers with hair in them because I don't have to go outside to use either one.

-I'm thankful for shredded toy animals to pick up ALL the time because we're lucky enough to have several four-legged babies that hold our hearts until the Good Lord sees fit to gift us with the two-legged variety. ;)

-I'm thankful for the decreased amount of time to complete these chores because my husband and I both have jobs which we could easily not have.

-Most of all, though, I'm thankful for my not so perfect and more often than not, messy home because it reminds me of how blessed we truly are.

So tonight, I think I'll temporarily complete my never ending list with a smile instead of a frown because sometimes the little things shouldn't be taken for granted!! :)

Now a Nook eBook!! :)

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