Angels Don’t Bleed. It’s a 6

Sunrise sent “God’s rays” on a city still stuttering awake from its evening slumber. Business relationship consummated with the limo driver, Denise walked down the steps to the Six Sentence Café and Bistro, her boots keeping time with her heart; a wave of familiarity and comfort, typically reserved for lovers and good friends, washed over her as she opened the door.

The etched transom window (a gift from an old benefactor or so the story went) above the Café’s door filtered the morning light, throwing kaleidoscopic figures and shapes onto the parquet flooring, absent only party confetti, it was a spotlight not to be squandered as Denise spun around in her best Ginger Rogers and, her smile bowing into an encore, continued past the bar on her right and to the short hallway beyond.

As she reached the end of the bar, its stools now still steel and black leather sentries in proper formation, she caught a whiff of sliced citrus, French fries and….the ocean…?; she turned around and finding no ghostly apparitions, continued down the hallway until she reached the Manager’s Office, gold lettering on the door shimmering in morning shadows, the door slightly ajar, she pushed it open gently, closing it behind her until she heard it latch closed.

Already feeling some relief, Denise whispered greetings and salutations to the musicians and actors whose likeness adorned the office walls in screen print and canvas, images of the now dead, serving as both confidant and confessor; sinking into the butter-soft leather of the sofa, a hint of char whispered from the fireplace.

Echoes from a lifetime – from teachers to friends, acquaintances to co-workers, “nothing gets to you, does it, you’re always so together, do you even cry?“ stayed at her side, failing to quiet her mind she instead pushed them along, her emotions relegated to a holding cell for release at a later date, like a movie production; she knew a day would come when she’d be unable to stem a tide of tears the likes of which Noah would fear.