Alex wandered into the colorful cafe and looked around, amazed to find that there were no kids in sight. How lame... Well, it didn't matter anyway. She sat down at one
of the small wooden tables, just as a lady wearing a green apron approached her.
"What can I get you?"
"Um... Well, do you have a menu? Because I'm starving!" Alex replied.
"Menu's over there on that wall." The lady said, pointing to the chalkboard.
Alex peered across the cafe. "How do you expect people to see that?"
The lady rolled her eyes. "Well, most people get up and walk over there. Now what are you going to order?"
Alex looked at her thoughtfully. "Well... a root beer for one. Oh and a cheeseburger with fries."
"Kid, are you for real?" the lady asked.
Alex looked herself up and down." I think so, why?"
"Look, why don't you just leave. We don't have time for pranksters in here."
"You're throwing me out?" Alex asked in disbelief. Then she laughed. "Boy, if you're gonna throw someone out, that's a really lame way to do it! Mr. Laritate does a way
better job at throwing us out at school!"
The woman put her hands on her hips and glared at Alex. "Look, Kid... Are you gonna leave or am I gonna have to throw you out?"
Alex threw up her hands in frustration. "All right, all right, I'm leaving! Geez!"
She rose from the table and headed for the door, but something made her stop and turn around. What the heck?
Making sure the lady in the green apron wasn't watching, Alex made her way to the corner of the café to get a better look. What she saw was a man. Thin with short,
dark hair... and she couldn't be sure but... wait... was he crying? Whoa! This was way too weird! She'd never seen a man cry before-Not even her dad or Uncle Kelbo.
And this guy looked way more important than anyone in her family. His suit must have come from a really good department store.
Her dad was so lame that he once borrowed Justin's suit (which, by the way was too small!) to go on a date with his own wife. What was with this guy anyway? And
more importantly why did she even care?
For some totally insane unknown reason, she couldn't resist finding out why a grown man would cry in a public place. Casually she moved closer to where the man sat
alone at a small wooden table, pretending to read a book. Yeah, that's right... pretending. She could totally tell. She'd mastered the art of faking her way through many
a reading assignment. Pretending to read was an art form. One that this guy had down perfectly.
"Hey!" She said putting on a big smile as she stepped in front of him. But he ignored her and continued to read.
"I said hey!" She said again.
The man crossed his knee over his leg and turned away from her.
"Hey Mister!" She said louder; attracting glances from nearby customers. The man lowered his book and looked at her with an annoyed glare; one that she was very
familiar with. Justin had given her that look plenty of times.
"Do you mind?" The man said; the irritation heavy in his voice. "I'm trying to read here!"
Alex scoffed. "Yeah right. I can totally tell that you're reading!"
The man sniffled and cleaned his throat. "Shouldn't you be in school?"
"Probably." She answered
"Well then... why don't you run along and leave me to my reading. Go... bother someone else!"
His voice sounded funny.. Like he was about to cry again.
"Are you okay?" Alex asked.
"Of course I'm okay!" The man snapped. "Why would you even ask such a preposterous question? You don't even know me!"
"Whoa... you are like major weird!" Alex said, stepping away from him.
Just then the man's cell phone rang and he reached into his pocket to answer it.
"Hello?" He said into the phone.
There was a long pause, and then his face got that hurt look on it again, that immediately turned to anger.
"But wait! What are you saying?" He was yelling into the phone. "Dear God, how could you even think that? Please, can't you give me a chance to explain? Call my
brother then! He knows what's going on! That's right. Oh come on, please! Just give me another-."
And then he was staring at the phone wearing the saddest expression that Alex had ever seen.
Slowly he closed the phone and slammed his fist angrily on the table, startling Alex with the sound it made.
"What's going on?" Alex asked.
The man brushed away a tear with the sleeve of his fancy department store suit. "Please.. Just go away..." He said to Alex.
Alex shrugged. "Okay. But I was only trying to help. And believe me, I never help, so this is a rarity. Just ask anyone in my family." She rose from the chair and turned to
leave.
"Wait." She heard him say.
Slowly she turned to face him. "Yeah?"
The man sighed. "I'm sorry for my rudeness. Won't you sit down?"
"Sure." Alex said, returning to the wooden chair.
"Listen, I don't want to hurt your feelings but I'm not in the mood to talk right now. However, you're welcome to stay."
"Cool!" Alex said. "So why are you crying? I mean it's totally weird to see a guy crying like that."
"I am not crying!" The man shouted, emphasizing each word.
"Riiiiight." Alex said. "So I suppose you always look like that."
The man's eyes narrowed. "Look like what?"
"Like you've been crying."
Wordlessly, the man rose from his chair, grabbed his book and walked out the door.