And again-- “Hi, what can I get for you?”

“I’d like a large minty chocolate shake, six pumps of peppermint, extra, extra ice, double blended really thick and smooth with chocolate drizzle on top and not inside the cup, and can you make sure they only use two pumps of the syrup base, please and thank you?”

“Hi, Lola.”

“Hey, baby.”

“We’ll see you at the window,” said Dave.

Lola pulled around in her minivan the color of fake gold; if you asked her, she’d tell you everywhere it’d been. Dave could never decide if her hair looked more like faded copper wool or dull steel wool. Her eyes immediately told you they had some stories tucked underneath, and if you asked her more than how her day was, she might let a few of them slip out from behind the cigarette hanging off her leathery face.

Most smokers her age creak and croak, but Lola’s voice had stayed soft like a warm wind in the city, and like a city wind, it was filled with noise. Sometimes it was bitter. Sometimes it was sweet. It was always full of shit, a comfort to the avid listener. The folks at the store heard that voice a lot; Lola came to the store two to three times a day. No one seemed to be able to make up his mind how they felt about her.

“How are you doing today?” asked Dave. For the first time during his long shift, he sincerely wanted an answer.

“I’m good, baby. Can you load the money onto the card and pay for it with the other card?”

“You got it, Lola.”

She always ordered the same thing. She always ordered the same way. She always paid the same way. This woman seemed to literally be the same thing day in and out, just a little older each time. Dave didn’t get it. To him, watching Lola putter around in her minivan was like watching a nature documentary; she was a majestic feature of the city’s ecology.

“Here you go. Well, I guess I’ll see you tomorrow,” said Dave.

“No you won’t, baby.”

“Why not?”

“I’m leaving the country.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yeah, I’m going to Cairo.”

“What for?”

“I’ve got a son in Cairo who wants to meet me. His daddy took him when he was little, and we’ve never seen each other since he was a baby. He tracked me down and wants to reconnect with me.”

“No way! That’s crazy.”

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“Yeah, it sure is. I can hardly believe it myself, but I’m going out to Cairo for a month.”

“Wow, yeah, we’ll see you when you get back. I hope everything goes alright. Enjoy your trip, man. Shoot, it’s crazy that something like that actually happens.”

“Yeah, his daddy was from Egypt. He said he didn’t want his son growing up in America.”

“Why not?”

“Said the culture was a violent plague and everything, so I just let him get out of here.”

“Oh yeah? Had he ever had a good cheeseburger?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Why?”

“I don’t know. I was just curious. It’s hard to have a good cheeseburger and still hate America.”

“Well, you know he’s Egyptian, so he probably doesn’t eat beef.”

“Is that a thing with Egyptians? I’m pretty sure that’s just an Indian thing.”

“No, Indians don’t have no problem eatin’ beef. Just look at all the buffalo they killed out west.”

Dave was kind of at a loss for words at this point, and he was even more lost on how he had made it this far. We just keep going, don’t we Lola? Gotta keep going, Dave. Keep on going.

“Well, they’re hollering for me to get back to work,” he said, pointing at his headset. “I guess I’ll see you sometime next week. Enjoy your trip, Lola.”

“Thanks, baby.”

“Hello, party people! We are officially closed! You can sit outside, but you can’t sit in here! Thank you for your patronage!” shouted Dave from atop the front register counter. He watched as the three customers shuffled out the door. Riley went and locked it behind them.

“What’s left?” asked Dave.

“You can sanitize that counter after you just stood on it with your dirty feet,” said Riley.

“Will do, chief!”

Tom began shutting down the ovens and gathering a host of dishes for his pool party in the sinks. Dave grabbed a grubby rag soaked with sanitizer and a bottle of bleach solution. He sprayed and wiped, then began to help Tom, running forward clean equipment and bringing back the dirty stuff.

In the midst of his shuffle, he remembered the bar that needed shutting down. They’d cleaned the parts, but the beans needed to be sealed away and the grinders vacuumed out. He pulled out the drawer and dumped the couple of pucks that were left, then popped in two cleaning pills and set it to rinse. He ran the hopper back to Tom for one last rinse. I do this all the time, and all the time I forget to do it.

“Why do you two come to work?” asked Dave over the headset.

“So I can pay rent. How do those machines look?” asked Riley.

“They’re almost done,” said Tom.

“Okay, but why do you come to this job?” asked Dave.

“I like to think it’s because I’m good at it,” said Riley. “But it’s really just because I’ve been doing it for a while. Are those fridges stocked?”

“They should be,” said Tom.

“Well, make sure they are,” said Riley.

“Okay, but what are the redeeming qualities of being here,” asked Dave.

“You get to make people’s day,” said Riley in a dry tone.

“Do we have any soy?” asked Tom as he looked in the bottom of a fridge out front.

Never mind, thought Dave. These people just don’t care. This is my own dragon to slay. There’s probably something poetically or philosophically fulfilling about scrubbing things and preparing food and making drinks. I’ll just pretend that’s why I’m doing all this. Celebrating the ordinary. Listening to stupid people make themselves fat is probably supposed to make me a better person. Who am I kidding? I’m just a rich man’s grunt.

“Guess what guys!” said Dave as he looked at the schedule.

“What?” asked Tom.

“When I go home tonight, I go home!”

“Oh, you’re off tomorrow?” asked Tom.

“Yeah, man! Leaving the factory for a couple of days.”

“Good for you. I found the soy, by the way.”

“Good,” said Riley. “I’m almost done counting down this till, then we can go.”

Tom and Dave set about making sure everything was stocked. They took off their aprons, turned out the lights, and then the three of them headed out the door.

“See you tomorrow, Tom. See you in a few days, Dave. Have fun going home.”

“See ya!” said Dave with the last of his excitement.