"The Short Cut" Chpt 2: Leaving Normal

Chapter 2:
Everybody is watching you!"
"Who is everybody?"
"Just some people"
Find a way to incorporate this small piece of dialog into your chapter. Feel free to add names, events, moods, voice inflection. Make it serious, hilarious, anything you want. Make sure that the three lines stay in context with each other, as you embellish them with your own characters and plot needs. And, as always, make them bold
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"Well, Sugar, let me shoot straight from the hip with ya'll. Given my 'druthers, I'd much prefer 'bout anything but asking Elwood to fire up that grill agin. I 'spect he ain't gonna like it none."

John looked over towards the man sitting at the end of the bar, still staring at the newspaper. The thought of the grizzled old octogenarian frying up a couple of beef patties was not particularly appetizing, in spite of the fact that John's stomach was now in the process of offering periodic audible reminders that it had been quite some time since it had last seen food.

"That's Elwood?"

Still staring at the rigid soul at the bar, John started to think about what his other food options might be if he had to go to plan B, because right now plan A was definitely not working. His thought process was quickly interrupted by the woman's reply:

"Of course not, city boy. That wrinkled, half-dead shell of a man is Old Lester. Shoot, Old Lester never cooked a thing in his life, 'specially now. The cook's my brother, Elwood. He's out back, tendin' to some business. By the way, pretty boy, my name, if yer int'rested, is Ellie. And yers would be..."

"John...John Phillips...from Indianapolis."

Before Ellie responded to John, she muttered something under her breath, pulled a chair out from under the table beside her, and placed her foot up on the chair, and quickly pulled her dress back, revealing an appealing pair of legs with the upper leg displaying a run in the tight-fitting stocking. Surprised at the hidden treasure that had been hidden behind the dress and apron, John caught himself staring longer than he had anticipated, and at areas that moved beyond her stocking and up her thigh towards...  John felt Ellie's eyes on him, so he quickly, but reluctantly, shifted his gaze upward to meet Ellie's.

"Sure seems to me that you do like what ya'll see, John from Indianapolis. I jus' have ta guess that it ain't nothin' that ya'll hasn't seen before... am I right? An, just a word to the wise, Sugar..Elwood bein' my big brotha' an all....he can git real protective at times...unnerstan'?"

John, reeling from the embarrassment from being caught looking at the physical attributes of Ellie, didn't even have time to contemplate what Ellie had said, since just as she finished speaking he heard what sounded like the rear screen door of the diner slamming shut. He then heard slow, almost methodical footsteps getting ever closer to the seating area of the diner. They stopped, however, somewhere back in the kitchen and John heard the pull chain from an overhead light being yanked. The sudden illumination revealed a large hulk of a man, but it was hard for John to decipher any facial characteristics as the guy who John assumed to be Elwood was standing in front of the light which created dark shadows over the man's face. No doubt, though, the guy was muscular,and from what John could tell, fairly clean, as if he had just washed up. The man spoke, with a voice that immediately implied mistrust of the stranger in his diner, talking with his sister::

"Who might this be, Ellie?"

"Why, it's a John from Indianapolis, Elwood, and he's hungry. Any chance you can cook him up somethin' right quick? The poor man is starvin'. Ain't that right, Johnny boy?" 

Before John could reply, Elwood spoke up:

"I don't s'pose it'd be neighborly ta' not cook up something for our visitor, Ellie, now would it? And I bet Mr. Johnny boy would jus' love a taste of my own special burgers. Folks 'round here call 'em Elwood's catch. I'll get a fixin' them up right quick now. and while yer waitin', maybe you can take a look at Old Lester's eye. He says he thinks he might have a piece of crud in it. If you take a look-see for me, I can get to fixin' your burgers right fast now."

John looked down at he end of the bar at Old Lester. The guy still hadn't moved one bit since John had been in the diner, and he surely never heard any conversation between Elwood and Lester. But, he figured that maybe they had the conversation earlier in the day before John got there. Perhaps Old Lester isn't quite as comatose all the time as he appears to be right now. Talking now more with his stomach than with his head, John looked at Elwood.

"All right, if it means getting some food in my gut...I'll take a look."

John started to turn and walk towards Old Lester, missing the slight smiles that were now on both Elwood's and Ellie's faces. As he neared Old Lester, John was stunned when the old man turned his head to face John. It was the first time the old coot had moved at all since John had entered the diner. The light was much better at that end of the bar, and for the first time John realized that Old Lester had been wearing sunglasses the entire time he had been in there. As John neared Lester, Lester removed his glasses but now had his eyes closed. john brought his stare down level and within inches of Old Lester's face:

"All right, Lester, let's see what's bothering you in there..."

Lester opened his eyes. John immediately turned his head in complete revulsion: Not only were there no eyeballs in the old man, but there was a purplish gel that was in each socket and was slightly seeping from each, and the smell was horrid. The old then smiled revealing a mouth that was in a serious stage of decay. John's brief glance revealed what was perhaps the remnants of a tooth or two, and the stench from Old Lester's open mouth was almost as bad as that emanating from his eye sockets.

While John was repulsed, he could hear Ellie and Elwood laughing hysterically in the kitchen. Ellie stopped laughing only momentarily:

"Johnny boy, did you find anything wrong with Old Lester's eye? Maybe you should check the other one while you're there, Sugar!"

The pair resumed their uncontrolled laughter, so loud they could not hear Old Lester speak to John. Although completely repulsed by the old man, John felt strangely like this was his only ally at the moment, and even though he was thinking about just heading for the door and exiting this freak show, John heard the old man speak in a barely audible whisper, and John inexplicably moved closer to hear:

"Everybody is watching you!"

"Who is everybody?"

"Just some people."

"What people, Lester? What people!"

At that instant, Ellie and Elwood came out of the kitchen, still chuckling but stopped immediately when they noticed John questioning Old Lester. Ellie grabbed a plate from the pick-up window holding a couple of burgers and fries, and motioned John to go and sit over at a table located a distance from Old Lester had resumed his standard position of face forward with sunglasses on, again giving the illusion of reading the paper. Ellie looked at John:

"That old fool speak to you?"

John wasn't sure why, but he didn't hesitate with his answer:

"No...I was trying to find out what happened to his eyes, but he wouldn't say anything."

"An accident at the old mill, lots a' years ago. If he does try to speak, you pay him no mind, see? He's just a crazy old fool."

John nodded his head in agreement, and began eating the burgers, tentatively at first. Soon, he was attacking the food like a man who hadn't eaten for a day, and it was pretty close to that. As he was eating, Ellie scooted herself up on the corner of the table, and moved her legs out to about a 20 degree angle on each side. She then slowly inched her dress up to mid thigh, her gaze fixed directly on John's face, awaiting a reaction. In a matter of seconds he had started to reach for the ketchup, but his hand froze when he saw what was on the table in front of him. She spoke while she knew she had his full attention:

"I'll bet your wife misses you, Sugar. Ya'll miss her, too."

It took a few seconds for John to regain his focus, so that he could answer the question:

"No wife...Never been married."

He resumed his work on the fries, along with the show Ellie was putting on. What his gaze didn't pick up was the nod Ellie gave to Elwood, who was standing, arms folded, just a few feet behind John who continued to eat and stare.
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Words:1460 Cumulative: 2007