Will a nice dinner, a bottle of wine and a lovely companion be enough for Auggie to relax and share with Annie what's on his mind? Well, it's time to find out. Just a reminder … I don't own anything except my imagination. Happy New Year!
Flight 642 - Chapter 4 - Saturday Night Dinner
The hostess led the couple toward a corner table. As they approached the table, Auggie leaned down to Annie's ear to whisper, "When we get to the table, put my hand on the back of the chair where you want to sit … preferably facing the dining room. I'll pull out the chair for you and then seat myself."
Annie looked up into his face, nodded and then remembered to answer "Ok. Why facing the dining room? "
He tilted his head down again to whisper, "Silly … so you can see the room to describe what's going on. Remember, I can be nosey." Annie giggled at him.
The hostess placed the leather covered menus at two places on the four-top square table. Annie smiled and thanked her. Then she whispered "It's a square table" as she followed Auggie's instructions.
Auggie's hands grasped the back of the chair and pulled it out just far enough for Annie to slide in. Then, he found the table edge with the back of his hand, took a step to his left, located the chair around the corner from Annie and seated himself.
"Thank you," Annie said.
"No, thank you for allowing me to do that the way I know I should."
"Should I ask for a Braille menu?"
"That's ok," Auggie laughed. "Just remember you weren't going to shout the menu choices. What's on the wine list?"
Auggie's hands found the menu before Annie could tell him where it was. He picked it up off the table, slid it onto his lap, leaned over to Annie and asked, "So, what's for dinner, Asta?"
"Oh, har," Annie answered as she squinted in the low light and whispered the wine list, salad and entrée offerings, each one sounding tastier than the last.
Annie decided on the fettuccine with seafood in a cream sauce, and Auggie settled on the salmon filet "because I won't have to chase dinner around my plate and possibly the table," he explained good-heartedly.
I guess this will be our Thanksgiving dinner," Auggie offered, "so let's get a bottle of wine." When the waiter returned, Auggie ordered Chardonnay, and then they were attentive as he presented the bottle to them and opened it. When the waiter offered the cork to Auggie, Annie realized she needed to say something, "Auggie … the cork."
"Oh," Auggie said holding out his hand. "Thank you." The waiter looked a little puzzled and placed the cork in his hand. With a mischievous glint in his eyes and a wide smile, Auggie took a deep breath and sniffed the aroma of the wine soaked cork.
"Very nice."
"Shall I pour, sir?" the waiter asked.
Auggie nodded and listened intently as the waiter poured a splash into his wine glass for tasting. Annie leaned across the corner of the table and whispered "one o'clock." Auggie nodded. He slid his fingers across the table to the base of the wine glass and followed the stem up to the bowl. Picking up the glass with his right hand, Auggie checked the shape and height of the bowl with his left hand so he could swirl, sniff and taste without bumping his nose or a tooth.
"Very nice."
"Very well, sir," the waiter said as he moved to pour a glass for Annie before filling Auggie's glass. "There you are, sir," the waiter said after he realized he should give his customer a verbal cue.
Annie and Auggie enjoyed a few sips of wine before the Caesar salads arrived.
"Ok, you gonna let me in on what's bothering you and where you're heading off to for Thanksgiving?"
Auggie took another bite of salad and chewed slowly before answering. He took a deep, tortured breath and explained, "My mother coerced me into going home to Glencoe for Thanksgiving, and to be brutally honest with both you and myself, I'm not sure I'm up to it."
"It's your family," Annie said thoughtfully. "We do anything for our families … even spend an occasional holiday with them. That's what families do, Auggie."
"I know … but there's the whole traveling alone thing, relying on airline assistance workers, fighting the day-before-Thanksgiving crowds … and then there's the dealing with my family part of it."
"Your prowess as an officer in the Special Forces is legend at the office," Annie chose her words carefully because they were in a public place. "You have one of the brightest computer minds in the country."
"Hrumpfff," Auggie grunted as he chewed on a piece of romaine.
"And yet you're still afraid to take a stranger's arm, get on a plane and spend less than 48 hours with your parents and bothers?"
"It's not fear," Auggie whispered. "I know my presence makes them uncomfortable. It's like they're not sure what to say or do around me, and I'm not always sure what to do either. I want to protect them and myself from awkward situations."
"Oh Auggie," Annie giggled, "You don't have to be dealing with a war injury to have awkward family moments during a holiday celebration. We've had some doozies in my family. You're just looking for an excuse to stay in DC and not go home."
Auggie's head dropped a little and he sighed, "You're probably right."
"I know I'm right Mister Anderson. Besides, if you believe they feel uncomfortable around you, whose fault is that? You don't go home. You don't invite them here. If you start spending some time with your family, I bet it will get easier for everyone."
"MMMmmm, where'd you get all this newfound insight, Annie?"
"It's not newfound, Mister. This is just the first time we've discussed it, I guess."
"What ARE you getting at? Where are you going with this?"
Annie polished off her last morsel of romaine, sipped her wine and continued …
"The first day I showed up at work and met you, I was unsure of how to act around you. But I just followed your lead, and you put me at ease. Then, I realized how awesome you are at your job, and that was almost intimidating. Everyone you work with respects you, and we've all learned that if you want or need our help you'll let us know. Isn't that right?"
Auggie scrunched his face in thought. "I don't know about the intimidating thing, but you're right about waiting until I ask for help."
"I know I am," Annie said as the busboy cleared away the salad plates. The waiter reappeared and refilled the wine glasses as he announced their entrée would be served shortly.
"I'm just reminding you that the people you work with are comfortable with you and you're comfortable with us, because we're together all the time. You have to give your family the opportunity to know and understand the person you have become since you returned from Iraq."
"I'm not so sure I'm that much different than before the explosion," he said thoughtfully.
"Well, why don't you let your parents and brothers in on that little secret?" Annie asked and then let out a gasp, "Oh, my goodness!"
"What happened? Is everything ok?"
"Auggie …. What's the protocol for running into our bosses on a Saturday night at a restaurant?"
Auggie threw his head back laughing. "Did we get busted by Joan and Arthur?"
"I don't know if busted is the right term, but we've definitely been noticed."
"Where are they?" Auggie asked.
"They're both looking our way. They're at your nine o'clock, and now they've waved at me."
Auggie turned his head to the left, and with his wine glass in his right hand he smiled and gave Joan and Arthur a little toast of recognition. Annie smiled and waved.
Joan and Arthur nodded at the young couple. "How does he do that?" Arthur asked shaking his head.
"I keep telling you they make a great team," Joan said giving Arthur a toast with her wine glass.
The waiter returned balancing a heavy tray on his shoulder. He sat the tray on the stand beside their table and served the entrees with flair. Annie inhaled the steam from her seafood pasta. "Oh, Auggie, this looks almost too good to eat." Auggie cleared his throat to get Annie's attention away from her pasta.
"Oh, right … ok … salmon at six o'clock, rice pilaf at two o'clock and vegetables at ten o'clock."
"Thanks for the road map to dinner," Auggie chuckled. They spent several minutes enjoying dinner before Annie brought up the subject again of going home."
"When do you fly out Wednesday? I'm sure I can slip away for a while to give you a ride to National."
Auggie stopped eating and smiled at Annie.
Sensing she was cracking him, Annie continued, "I'd be happy to go in with you, but it wouldn't do much good because I couldn't get through security with you. So you probably would need to contact Travel Assistance."
"Thanks, Annie, but you don't need to do that. A cab will be just fine. It's not like I've never done it before."
"I know, but you'll be gone for a couple of days and I'd like it if my best friend would let me see him off on his holiday adventure to Illinois," Annie teased.
"Thanks for being such a good friend, Annie Walker. We'll see how things work out."
Finally, Auggie is talking about his apprehensions. Reviewing this before posting has made me hungry, so I'm going to go start dinner. In Chapter 5, Auggie begins the first leg of his journey home. Thanks to everyone who added my story to their alerts, and thank you, too, for the positive comments.
