Autumn Ruby

On a chilly autumn morning, he opened the restaurant early, as usual. He knew the first customers would arrive quite quickly. He understood them; he himself liked to rise early. Even in winter, when the first rays of the sun didn't appear until around eight-fifteen, he preferred to quickly rise from bed and paddle quietly up the stairs to the courtyard in the dark, only to arrive at work a moment later, breathing in the frosty air and stumbling over branches abandoned by playing children and covered with the night's snow. He most enjoyed the moment when he opened the frosted restaurant doors and found himself in a dark room filled with the smell of freshly laundered tablecloths. When he was a child, coming to the restaurant with his father, he had never experienced the atmosphere of the extraordinary he felt now. The ordinary restaurant nestled among the numerous shops of the city's rich and poor had evoked none of the delight that now awoke him every morning.

Closing the door, he went into the main hall and paused by the window to watch the falling rain. He hadn't expected it to be falling now. The wind had just died down, so there was no sign of clouds approaching.

"The joys of autumn," he thought, turning his head away from the window to call the florist for a delivery of fresh flowers.

Louis loved flowers. He couldn't imagine his restaurant tables without vases of fragrant freesias. His cousin, Gladys, always laughed at his passion, saying at every opportunity,

"Louis is like a woman. Her scent attracts the love of her life."

Gladys always spoke nonsense. Perhaps because she had never had much luck in her life. But Louis didn't try to argue with her, because she was the only one who always remembered him, and although she usually laughed at him, she truly understood his mysterious thoughts.

He hung up the phone and returned to the window. The flowers would be delivered in ten minutes.

"It would be nice if Tom came and set everything up on time," he thought, and a moment later he heard the key grating in the lock of the backyard door. Tom arrived, and Louis headed towards him.

Tom didn't like to wake up early, so at seven in the morning he looked completely different than he did at lunchtime. His eyes were half-closed, as if he hadn't yet woken up, and his face looked very tired. Louis was glad Tom spent the morning cooking in the kitchen. Otherwise, most people wouldn't come to his place because of the terrifying sight of the cook.

"It's good that you're here. They'll be bringing the flowers soon. I ordered white freesias for today to brighten up the autumn weather. Everything around looks so gloomy. At least it's nice here.

" "You're right. Yellow and red would remind people even more of autumn. Besides, how do you know they don't like it?" Tom began to tease Louis sleepily.

"I don't know," he replied. "I often think people think the same way I do. I'm probably wrong.

" "Come on. I'd better get to work. I didn't feel like cleaning up the kitchen yesterday, so I need to make up for my laziness. I need to sleep. I'd love to lie down next to this warm stove and fall asleep quickly.

" "Well, well," Louis feigned nervousness, "just put the flowers on the tables for me, and then you can rest."

In response, Tom just smiled and headed for the front door, where a flower shop van had just pulled up. The man driving it got out and, in the pouring rain that was now falling, ran into the restaurant.

"The gentlemen, I'll help you. There are plenty of flowers, and in a few minutes I have to deliver the gerberas to the church," he justified his request.

"Okay. No problem," Louis agreed, looking at Tom, who was practically asleep standing up.

"I'll go get our coats," Tom said in a quiet voice.

Once they had unloaded the flowers and brought them into the hall, Tom, fully awakened by the fresh scent, began arranging the vases on the tables. Louis watched his friend bustle about for a moment, then took off his jacket and hung it up, saying,

"Put the prettiest and largest ones on the table in the corner by the window.

" "Do you think he'll come today? Why are you kidding yourself? He won't even look at you. So much effort. And tell me, why?" Tom replied in surprise.

Louis pondered his answer for a moment. Then he completely forgot that Tom had asked him anything. He stared out the window and tried to recall her face. A perfectly ordinary face, yet to him, a special one. He couldn't remember when she'd first arrived. He usually watched each customer for a while, but only became interested in her when she arrived with a small boy—three or four years old. He liked her dark eyes, sparkling in the window light, and her even darker hair, which sometimes flowed loosely around her neck but was usually tied up. But he liked her most when, sitting at the counter, pretending to pore over the 1966 accounts his grandfather had kept, he listened to the conversation between the girl and the little boy. Ruby—as she called him—loved asking her all sorts of odd questions. What captivated Louis about her was the ease with which she answered the little one's childish questions. Louis loved watching her cut the blueberry dumplings, which Ruby always devoured with relish, asking for a second helping, and at the same time answering the little one so accurately. Sometimes Ruby's doubts seemed so sophisticated to Louis that he grew nervous eavesdropping on their endless conversations. But looking at the girl, he immediately calmed down and scolded himself for his impatience. Then, looking at the little boy leaning over the second helping of blueberry dumplings, which he always asked her for after finishing the first, he smiled to himself and silently uttered a wish:

"I wish I could talk to her someday."

But that dream faded as quickly as it had arisen. He didn't know what to say to her, what to ask her, so that she would respond as freely as she had to Ruby. He was afraid that this dream might one day come true, and at the same time, he was glad that the girl's extraordinary nature would forever cheer him up, and not just Ruby, who was happy about the dumplings, not the smile she was directing at him.

"Don't just stand there," Tom said, jolting him out of his memories. "We're opening in a few minutes, and you've been standing there for over twenty minutes. Look around to see if anything else needs to be prepared."

Louis was grateful to Tom for this wake-up call. Guests would soon be arriving, and he would still be staring out the window. Without a word, he moved toward the door to open it and turn on the small light, as the rain clouds outside were pitch black, preventing the sun from entering the restaurant. Louis stood behind the counter and watched the traffic. At first, a few people flashed past the window, rushing to work, and mothers dragging sleepy children by the hand to preschool. A moment later, the doorbell rang. Several people entered the restaurant and took their tables. The waiters quickly dispersed to take orders. Susan's deep voice, who had arrived shortly after Tom, could already be heard in the kitchen. She was now handling the orders.

Louis kept a sharp eye on the occupants of the individual tables and acknowledged the nods of those who arrived. He kept an eye on the young woman's seat. It was important to him that the table remain free not only because he could best hear her conversation with Ruby from there, but above all to avoid a repeat of a few weeks ago, when, with a faint and unfamiliar smile, she had to take a different seat because her favorite table was already occupied. Louis didn't want her to worry again.

"Excuse me," a soft voice woke him from his memories, "can I book a birthday party for a group of children at your place?" Louis slowly raised his head and looked ahead. A well-groomed elderly woman stood at the counter, smiling sincerely at him.

"Yes, of course," he replied quickly, as the woman began to look around the room. "Would you like to place your order now?"

The old woman pondered, and after a moment's thought, added,

"I could tell you the date of the party and what dishes I'd like. However, I don't know how many children will be attending. You see, my grandson—Ruby—would like to invite..."

Louis continued, not listening. He looked at the notebook in front of him, carelessly writing down the words of the old woman's rapid and quiet chatter, and all the time he thought with horror and strange joy:

- Finally, we will have something in common.

When the woman fell silent, Louis snapped out of his reverie. The old woman, seeing his distraction, gave him her home phone number and asked him to call her if she'd forgotten anything. Smiling and thanking her, she left the restaurant, drawing Louis's gaze with her, who was staring out the window again. He was thinking now of the party she would bring Ruby to. He could hear the loud cries of the toddler's friends playing and the squeals of the girls as they raced through fruitcake with cream. He looked around and, with unseeing eyes, saw himself and the dark-haired girl at a table in the corner. They were sitting alone, and two strawberry milkshakes were on the table. The noise seemed very distant; a modest silence reigned around them, when suddenly Ruby's voice sounded nearby, saying,

"What time is it?"

Louis broke from the series of dream images and, in the corner by the window, saw a girl and a boy leafing through the same old menu pages. The little one looked at her expectantly and after a moment he heard,

"Eight forty-nine. If you speak the language of forest ladybugs, you can consider that true."

The girl's calm voice rang in Louis's ears. He longed for the last image of his dreams. He would rather she answered him than Ruby. Louis rose from his chair and looked around the room. More guests had arrived than ever, so he had to move to take the orders of the bewildered customers. "

Move," Tom said to him, tapping him on the shoulder. "If you stand there any longer, we'll lose all our guests. Especially my favorite one, who loves blueberry dumplings."

Louis glanced at Ruby's table. He had to go to take the order, but he didn't know how. Regardless, he followed Tom's lead. Ruby waved at him from a distance, and that gave him courage.

"Good morning. What's for today?" "Louis asked, and immediately it seemed to him that he'd asked the stupidest question in the world. He felt his face heat up.

"Good morning," the girl replied, a little embarrassed. "A double portion of blueberry dumplings for Ruby, and for me... hmm... a strawberry smoothie."

Louis's heart skipped a beat. First the necessity of approaching the table, then the girl's eyes, and now the strawberry smoothie, which he'd seen today, pondering after the old lady had left.

Smiling shyly, he walked toward the kitchen and handed Susan the order slip.

"Finally, an order for your dumplings, Tommy. I guess your dreams have come true today, huh?" Susan exclaimed, winking at Louis.

Standing in the doorway leading to the dining room, Louis replied cheerfully,

"And a double portion at once!"

"Don't be kidding," Tom exclaimed, pleased with himself and his skills. "Really? I think I'll go and hug that kid."

Everyone laughed. Louis left the kitchen and sat down behind the counter, occasionally glancing at the girl and Ruby. A waiter passing by carried a glass of cocktail and a large plate of dumplings on a tray.

"Thank you," Ruby said loudly. "If you have a stopwatch, you can time how long it takes me to eat these dumplings. My record is four minutes and twelve seconds. If you don't believe me, you can check. Mabel, give me the stopwatch from your backpack."

Louis, listening to the conversation, smiled to himself. It was the first time he'd heard the girl's name. The little one had never called her "Mabel." Louis realized in an instant that he'd never met anyone with a name like that before. He was happy because it now belonged to her alone.

Time passed slowly, and Louis listened intently to the boy's conversation with Mabel, while simultaneously trying to read Hemingway's "49 Stories," which he had despised three years ago in his fourth year of English studies. Now, in his free time, he tried to make amends with the deceased writer by returning to his books. Today, however, he wasn't quite able to read, as all his senses were drawn to Ruby and Mabel.

"Mabelly! Guess the riddle!" the boy called.

"Okay. I hope it won't be too difficult, because it looks like it will be.

" "The TV announcer is announcing, and there's not even a TV here. I don't like the word "TV." I prefer blueberry dumplings," Ruby said unexpectedly.

Startled, Louis looked at Mabel. She was silent, and for the first time, she didn't answer the little one. Neither she nor Ruby seemed surprised by the whole situation. Only Louis noticed the change. In a single moment, it seemed to him that something terrible had happened. Then he got used to her silence and tried to convince himself it was nothing. But he wasn't entirely successful in convincing himself. She'd answered Ruby too often to be silent now—for the first time.

Staring out the window and the raindrops falling on the glass, he heard Susan calling. He quickly got up and went to the kitchen, where he picked up the phone that was handed to him.

"Hello," he said in a sad voice, still thinking about Mabel's silence.

"Good morning again," said a familiar voice on the phone. "I wanted to tell you that I found a letter from my grandson at home, and I know how many people he'd like to invite to the party."

"Just a moment, I'll get something to write with," Louis replied. "Yes, I'm listening.

" "There will be seventeen children invited: Ruby, his parents, myself, and two grandparents. So, twenty-three of us in total. You can do the math. We're planning a birthday party for Saturday from 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM. I think you're free.

" "Yes," Louis told the woman, "you're in luck, because we're having a farewell party at 9:30 PM.

" "I'm glad everything worked out so well. Thank you. Oh! I almost forgot. Could you tell my daughter, if she's still there with Ruby, to stop by my place with her son on the way back? I'd be very grateful.

" "Yes, I will," Louis replied.

"Goodbye," the woman replied cheerfully, and without waiting for a reply, she hung up.

Louis also hung up and, with a sad look, went into the dining room to deliver the message to Mabel—Ruby's mother. He couldn't believe that such a simple message could change the entire world around him, paint all the colors of the rainbow gray and black. He'd never had big dreams. When he was little, he hadn't wanted to be a pilot. When he grew up, he hadn't asked his father for a car. Now, all he dreamed of was drinking strawberry milkshake with Mabel and then spending his whole life with her, asking her questions, which she would answer just as she did to Ruby. Today, in an instant, all the images he'd created had collapsed into the abyss. And Louis had no desire to recreate them.

The room was bustling with people talking loudly, laughing at the jokes their friends were telling. Some were raving about the scent of the freesias and praising their color. They liked that they were white.

"They brighten autumn," they said, unaware that they would have brought Louis immense joy if they'd said those words in the morning, as Tom was arranging the vases on the tables.

Louis glanced at the table in the corner. It was empty. He looked sadly at the window and saw Mabel laughing, opening a large umbrella, and Ruby, who was taking a dumpling dripping with purple berry cream from his raincoat pocket and stuffing it into his mouth, trying to wash down Tom's treat with the pouring rain.

"I won't run after them," he thought, because meeting Mabel would no longer mean much to him.

Louis returned to the counter and pondered everything that had happened before noon. He bent his head over "49 Stories," tears welling in his eyes. He sat there until evening. The guests slowly departed, the doorbell rang more frequently, the room gradually emptied, and the midday bustle subsided considerably. Louis decided to get up and clear away the abandoned tables. Dusk was falling outside, so he turned on a larger light. He approached the corner table by the window and sat down in the chair Ruby usually occupied. He didn't look ahead, not wanting to see Mabel again. Finally, he stood up and, as he was closing his chair, accidentally noticed a book lying under Ruby's chair. He bent down and picked it up, looking at the title. It was a botany textbook. Puzzled, he picked it up and placed it under the counter.

"Student?" he asked himself.

Lost in thought, he began cleaning the kitchen with Tom and Susan. After they cleaned the stove, Louis told Susan she had enough work for today.

"Don't overwork yourself. Go home and see what drawings the kids brought you from preschool."

A satisfied Susan said goodbye to her friends and went home. Tom followed her, even though he was determined to give Louis a ride home. Turning out the kitchen light, Louis went to the classroom to retrieve the notebook with his birthday plans for Ruby written on it. He leafed through it and put it in his coat pocket. Turning to the counter, he heard a knock on the window. He quickly glanced at the window and saw Mabel. Surprised, he didn't immediately respond; only at the second knock did he head for the door. Mabel spoke first.

"Sorry to be so late. I know you're closing, but didn't I leave my textbook here before noon? I was rushing to class when I left and forgot it. Besides, I had to walk Ruby home...

" "Yes. I found your notebook under the chair," Louis replied.

"Even dumplings are more important to Ruby than books. He puts them on the table, while tossing the book under the chair," Mabel told him cheerfully, as she always had.

Louis smiled at her and bent down to pick up the book.

"Didn't Ruby's grandmother ever call the restaurant?" the girl asked, trying to break the silence.

"She called and told you to tell—"

"Not me, but Ruby's mom. She didn't have time to go with him for dumplings today, so I went during the break. I could have skipped it, but I'm her favorite niece, so you know," she paused and laughed knowingly.

Louis laughed too, but not at what she said. They both laughed. Mabel was as cheerful as ever, and Louis, because he'd regained his dreamscapes. The rainbow colors of his world sparkled anew, and the room smelled of freesias, because Mabel wasn't Ruby's mother.

"Would you like to have a strawberry smoothie with me?" he asked shyly.

"I'd love to, and please call me 'Mabel,'" the girl replied.

"Thank you. And I'm Louis," he replied a little more boldly.

"Shall we sit at that table over there?" she asked, gesturing to the corner table by the window.

"Mhm," Louis agreed.

They sat at the table and, sipping their smoothies, looked at the bouquet of freesias in the vase. It was the largest bouquet Tom had set out that morning. The flowers were large and smelled the most beautiful.

"Why aren't we saying anything?" Louis asked, as nonsensically as Ruby, and then felt embarrassed.

"Maybe because the scent of freesia leaves us speechless," Mabel said quietly, smiling gently.

It was already completely dark outside. The traffic had died down completely, except for the autumn wind blowing through the open window, which made the little bell jingle every few seconds. Louis felt happy because he was drinking strawberry milkshake with Mabel, and she was responding to him just as she had to Ruby.