Talhia McNeil

The Path

Every shift started the same, get the bar ready for service....she knew the routine like the back of her hand. The anticipation of the hustle and bustle of service slowly building within her as the seconds ticked away. She glanced at the clock and realized that he would be arriving very soon. Every day for the last six months at exactly 5:05 pm he saddled up to the same bar stool. She would already be pouring his lager, knowing without asking what he would start with. As she set the beer in front of him with a familiar hello he pulled out the little black book that he wrote in every day. She often wondered what he was writing in that little black book and had been tempted many times to peek in it when he left it unguarded at the bar. She respected his privacy and their conversations too much to cross that line. She looked forward to their conversations each day, he was the calm in her otherwise chaotic day. The grounding conversation that she needed, it was more substancial than mindless bar chatter. He knew all about her life, her dreams, her struggles and the path she hoped her life would one day take.