"The Short Cut" Chapter 1: The Diner

First prompt.
Bar, hole, chore Use these three words, or their meaning in your first chapter. Feel free to use a thesaurus, I've got one too.
Make sure to put these words or their meaning in bold, using WritingML. If you need help with this, send me an email, I'll walk you through the process.
Entry due by July 17, 2009; 11:59PM WDC time.

READ THIS:
Your first entry may not be late! It is due no later than 7/17/09 at 11:59 pm WDC time. That is 48 hours from now, no matter where you are in the world.
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John Phillips pulled into the driveway of the seemingly deserted diner about 8:15 PM. He was tired and hungry. A bad traffic accident on the interstate had diverted all traffic onto a smaller two-lane highway, which had hopelessly over-burdened the smaller road. All he could see on the road ahead were slow-moving or stopped vehicles. He had no intention of sitting in another traffic jam for God-only-knew-how-long, so he had diverted onto the first county road he saw. It was only gravel, but at least he was moving and he thought he was going roughly in the same direction that he was supposed to be. So, about 45 minutes later, when he saw the sign that read "Do or Diner" he felt a huge sense of relief. He also felt it quite odd that this greasy food joint was out in the middle of nowhere.

Must intersect with a busier road close to here, he thought as he pulled up near the entrance door. There was only one other car in the parking lot, a vintage model that reminded him of some older cars he'd seen in car magazines, but he was pretty sure he'd never seen this type before. He would have gone over to get a closer look, but eating was a priority right now. He hopped up the three steps to the entrance. There was a hole in the screen about the size of a baseball just above the door handle, and it appeared that someone tried to "repair" the hole with scotch tape. John opened the door and gazed around as he stepped inside. It was dimly lit, but he quickly recognized it as a "typical" diner: a long bar with stool seating, and then booths around the windowed area. The kitchen was behind the bar with a large open window-style order pick-up area. As his eyes adjusted to the lack of light, he noticed an older fellow sitting on a stool at the end of the bar, reading what John assumed to be a newspaper. The guy never turned to acknowledge John's presence, but John immediately attributed that to a lack of hearing. John prepared for the anticipated chore of communicating with this relic, but just as he was about to address the old guy he heard a voice from behind:

"Hi there Sugar. Just what can we do for ya'll?"

John turned to face a woman standing in the doorway of the diner. She appeared to be in her mid-30's, dressed in standard waitress garb consisting of a weathered dress with apron. She was what John considered to be attractive: a strawberry blond with a few hints of gray at each temple, a nice figure. She did give the appearance that she had put in a full day's work already, so John was a bit hesitant to ask:

"I was hoping to get something to eat." John shot a glance over at the old guy sitting at the end of the bar, who still appeared to be intently reading the paper, apparently oblivious to the conversation between John and the waitress. This way, John also avoided making eye contact with the waitress, whom he feared would not be too thrilled with a food request at this point of the evening.


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Word Count: 547  Cumulative: 547