Although a reservation had never been made, the table in the way back of the Happy Chinese, it was always reserved. Every friday night, the Cohens and the Roberts met there sharing their stories of the week and catching up with their best friends. At first, they'd tried bringing in the endless amounts of diapers and car seats. Their extra luggage they carried everywhere caused an upbrining for the waiters that eventually they had to quit bringing their kids before a steaming plate of fried rice went all over an unsuspecting coustomer.
Sandy Cohen was surprised when he found himself the first person to dinner that Friday night. He waved at all the familiar waiters, and hostess then took his seat in his 'assigned' chair. He had finished a case surprisingly early at the office and was able to be here on time. He picked up his chopsticks and slid them out of their packet playing around with them. He had been coming here ever since he could remember and he still couldn't figure out to hold the damn things.
'Hi' Maya Roberts said, suddenly across from him. 'I guess i'm early"
"No," Sandy pointed out. 'Everyone else is late'
'Really?' She asked shrugged her coat off and hanging it off the back of her chair. 'Iv'e never been early, I was hoping I was' Sandy gave her a compassionate smile.
They were connected by the one thing they had in common-Kirsten Cohen, who had not arrived yet. So they sat there in an uncomfortable silence, knowing things about each other neither had any idea. Sandy twirlied the chopsticks around his fingers with ease. 'What do you think?' He asked Maya. 'Should I give it all up, become a drummer'
'I wouldn't do that just yet,' She said. 'You'd have to grow your hair out and get a nipple ring or something like that'
'Do I want to know why you're talking about nipple rings?' Neil Roberts said placing his hand on his wife's shoulder which passed for an embrace after so many years of marriage.
'Sandy wants to give it all up, and become one,' Maya said smiling at Sandy while she scooted into the booth so her husband had a place to sit down.
'Oh I don't think Kir would like that,' He said picking his napkin up and sliding it into his lap. 'Speaking of which, where is she?'
'Late,' Sandy said checking his watch.
'Thank you captain obvious,' Neil said, smiling.
'Did you order yet?' Maya asked.
'Kirsten orders,' He used as an excuse. Truthfully, he had no idea what anyone got. Kirsten was usually the first one at the table every week, and kept the meal running smoothly.
As if Sandy had invoked her, Kirsten came running through the door of the Chinese restuarant. 'I'm late, I know,' She said unbottoning her coat with one hand. 'You'll never believe the day I had,' The other three at the table leaned forward expecting to her one of Kirsten Cohen's infamous stories, instead she waved over the waiter. 'The usual,' she said, sliding into the booth next to Sandy.
The usual? Sandy, Neil, and Maya all looked at each other. Was it really that easy?
'So,' Kirsten began, taking a hair tie off her wrist wrapping her hair into a low pony tail. 'First, I spend the morning at the Motor Vehicles Divison, which is awful under the best of circumstances. So I'm the next one in line- you know, just in front of that little window- and the clerk, swear to God, has a heart attack. Just dies on the floor'
'That is awful,' Maya breathed.
'Mmm. Especially because they closed the line down, so I had to start from scratch'
'More billable hours,' Neil said.
'No, not in this case,' Kirsten said. 'I'd already scheduled a two o'clock appointment at Exeter'
'That school?'
'Yeah. With a Mr. J. Foxhill. He turned out to be a third-former with a lot of extra cash who needed someone to sit in detention for him by proxy,'
Sandy laughed. 'That's ingenuity,'
'Needless to say, it wasn't acceptable to the headmaster, who wasted my time with a lecture about adult responsibility even after I told him I didn't know any more about the plan than he had. And then, when I go to pick up Ryan from soccer, the car gets a flat, and by the time I change the spare and get to the playing field he's already found a ride home,'
'Kir,' Maya said. 'What happened to the clerk?'
'You changed a tire?' Sandy asked, as if Maya hadn't spoken. 'I'm impressed,'
'So was I. But just in case it's on backwards I want to take your car downtown tonight,'
'You're working again?'
Kirsten nodded, smiling as the waiter delivered their food. 'I'm headed to the box office for Metallica tickets,'
'What happened to the clerk?' Maya said more forefully.
They all stared at her. 'Jeez Maya,' Kirsten said. 'You don't have yell,' Maya flushed and Kirsten immeadiatley genteled her voice. 'I don't know what happened, actually,' She admitted. 'He went off in some ambulance. By the way, I saw Summers painting today in the State building,'
'What were you doing at the State building?' Sandy asked.
She shrugged. 'Looking for Sum's painting,' She said. 'It seems so...well, professional, with that gilded frame and the big blue ribbon hanging underneath it. And you all made fun of me when I saved the crayon pictures she used to make with Seth over at our house,'
Neil smiled. 'We laughed because you said they were going to be your retirement income one day,'
'You'll see,' Kirsten said. 'A statewide art champion at seventeen; a gallery opening at twenty-one...she'll be hanging in the Museum of Modern Art before she's thirty.' She reached for Sandy's arm, and twisted the face of his wristwatch towards her. 'I've got five more minutes,'
Sandy let his hand fall back into his lap. 'The Ticketmaster's open at seven at night?'
'Seven A.M' Kirsten said. 'Sleeping bag's in the car,' She yawned. 'I'm thinking I need a career change. Some position with a little less stress...like an air traffic controller or the prime minister of Isreal.' She reached for a platter of mu shi chicken, began rolling the pancakes and passing them out. 'How is your case against Greenblatt's?'
'Good,' Sandy said. 'We solved today with just a few fits from them snoopy little newpsies,'
'Good,' Kirsten said. 'Well, That was a sumptuous and relaxing dinner'
'You can't go yet,' Maya said, turning to ask a busboy for fortune cookies. When the man returned, she stuffed a few in Kirsten's pockets. 'Here. The box office doesn't offer take-out,'
Neil picked up a cookie and cracked it. '"A gift of love is not one to be taken lightly,"' he read aloud.
'"You are as young as you feel"' Sandy said, scanning his own fortune. 'Doesn't say much for me right now.'
Everyone looked at Maya, but she read the thin strip and pocketed it. She believed that if you spoke it alound, your good fortune had no chance of coming true.
Kirsten took one of the remaining cookies from the plate and cracked it open. 'Imagine that,' she said, laughing. 'I got a dud,'
'It's missing?' Neil said. 'That ought to be worth a free meal,'
'Check the floor, Kir. You must have dropped it. Who ever head of a fortune cookie without a fortune?' Maya said.
But it was not on the floor, or beneath a plate, or caught in the folds of Kirsten's coat. She shook her head ruefully and lifted her teacup. 'Here's to my future,' she said. She drained the tea, and then, in a hurry, she left.
They hugged.
And for that moment, it felt like everything was okay. He covered her body with his, and as she put her arms around him she could picture him in all his incarnations. The moon rolled, sloe-eyed in the night sky; and she breathed in the scent of his skin. 'I love you, Cohen' She said.
He kissed her so gently she wondered if she had imagined it. She pulled back slightly, to look in his eyes.
And then there was a shot.