It was three quarters past five as Georg removed his hat and set it down on the diner table. He wasn't hungry but he ordered a chicken fried steak with a side order of fries and a cup of coffee anyways. The waitress' hands were black, unlike the rest of her, which was rather pale. He inquired why her hands were black, she simply answered it was ink and that she was taking his order to the back. He thanked her as she walked behind the swinging doors.
Looking around the room his eyes caught site of a woman with short blonde hair in a booth by herself she looked like she was crying or at least having some kind of allergic reaction to something. He didn't figure it to be a good sign for him because he had just ordered his own food. He continued watching the back of the woman's head as she blew her nose, then bend forward and start to mess with something on her table. She looked familiar but he turned away and faced the window looking out to the street. The street sign on the corner read "8th street."
He watched the people out on the sidewalk pushing to get by one another. He couldn't imagine how he made it to the diner in the first place. All he really hoped was that he would be able to find his hotel okay through the mob outside. There was a little girl being pulled along by her mother, who had a determined look on her face as she trudged forward. The girl started to lag behind and making her mother pull hard until her mother just gave up and picked the girl up and carried her on.
Georg chuckled to him self as he remembered Maria caring around Gretl. She would hike the little girl up on her hip and carry her around the grounds along with the other children as they sang and played. He couldn't see her but behind Georg the woman he was staring at before had looked up to him as well. She seemed to recognize him right away, it was his chuckle that brought her to his attention. Looking away she continued to mess with what was on her table again.
Georg thought he could feel someone's eyes on him so he whipped his head around and found the woman in her booth still messing with the same thing on her table. The waitress who had taken his order had come out from the double doors and came to his table. She wasn't carrying any food and even though Georg wasn't hungry he still wanted his chicken fried steak.
"You're food will be out soon, sir," the waitress said as she turned around and started walking off to another table.
"Excuse me," Georg called out to her. The waitress turned around and came back to the table. She was smacking on her gum and popping it annoyingly now.
"Yes?" said the waitress.
"I was wondering… Who is that woman?" asked Georg.
"I don't know sir, I've never seen her here before," the waitress answered impatiently.
"Thank you anyways," Georg said with a smile and the waitress gave him a mocking smile back.
Georg looked back at the woman again, this time he caught her eye as she looked up from her table towards him. She stared back and then turned her head quickly. Grabbing her things the woman dug around her purse and set money on the table. It only took Georg another second to figure out who she was. He now realized that it was his Maria. Getting up so quickly he knocked his chair back Georg shouted out her name.
Maria didn't even look back at him. She just kept walking to the door. Walking into the crowds by the time Georg got out of the diner she didn't even hear him calling out to her.
"Damn it!" shouted Georg. A few people turned to stare at him on the street. He angrily turned around and headed back into the diner where his food was waiting for him on the table.
Looking at his food in disgust Georg ripped his over coat off the back of the chair he pulled out a few bills and threw them on the table. Eyeballing him suspiciously the waitress came up to him, before she could say anything, Georg pushed by her and was gone and roaming through the mass of people on the sidewalk in search of Maria or the look-a-like Maria.
There was absolutely no way that he would be able to find her in this crowd. It was a lost cause and was beginning to realize this. Looking around the crowd he spotted a women walking who had blonde hair in a short boyish hair cut, just like Maria had. Racing and slithering up to her, Georg could hear blurred out people cursing him for bumping into them but he didn't care they were just in his way.
Catching up to the woman, with the short blonde hair, Georg grabbed her shoulder. The woman, surprised and frightened, turned around and started whacking Georg with her purse. Georg let go of her shoulder quickly and looked at the fully and stunned. The woman looked nothing like Maria. The woman's face was squished together to form one of the ugliest woman Georg had ever seen.
"How dare you!" the woman shouted. "God forbid you steal anything from me! You… You vermin!"
Georg just stared at her stunned. He was being accused as a thief! A respected naval hero.
"What do you have to say for your self?" Asked the women folding her hands in front of her while holding on tight to her purse just incase her attacker had any tricks up his sleeve.
"Ma'am, I'm terribly sorry! I thought you were someone else," said Georg trying to sound deeply apologetic, "I thought you were a friend of mine."
"Are you always this rough with people you know?" the woman asked squinting her eyes suspiciously at Georg.
"She's gotten away before ma'am and I'm determined to get her back," said Georg scanning the crowd for any trace of the real Maria.
"Is she a crazy person?" The woman asked with a concerned face. The source of her face was that she was more concerned about her own safety then him finding the woman he was looking for.
"No, she's not insane…" Georg sighed and grabbed a folded newspaper out of a mans under arm. The man didn't even notice that his paper went missing and he continued on his way. "This is the woman I'm looking for!" Georg pointed to the large picture printed on the front page of the paper.
"Oh… Maria!" The woman gave Georg a flirtatious smile. "You thought I was her?"
"From the back, yes," Georg said disappointed.
"Oh, I see," said the woman angrily. "I was going to tell you something… about your little friend there but…"
"You know her?" Georg asked excitedly.
"No, but I might have seen her," the woman said pulling back a stray hair that had fallen.
"Which way did she go?" Georg asked with his full attention now on the ugly woman.
"Well, it seemed as though she was heading to St. John's Cathedral." The woman pointed down the sidewalk. Georg went sprinting to the church. He sent off so fast that the woman had to take a few steps back to catch her balance.