New Beginning 694

His entrance at nine-thirty sharp—half an hour before closing—dashed my hopes of cutting short the miserable day.

There was only one other customer at Gustav's Diner, a grandfatherly type on the last spoonfuls of his apple crisp. Another five minutes and he would have paid and left, the kitchen would be pronounced closed, and I would be free to go—escape— curl up in bed and pass the remaining hours in the oblivion of sleep.

But now the new arrival had ruined it all. I watched as he shook the ra...