Dinner With You

I only ever came here for the fortune cookies 

I don't know if you can tell 

when I stare at the menu 

under shiny plastic with a red rim 

when I glance 

up I can tell you're reading the Mandarin 

in the menu, not the English 

you glance up 

can you tell that I'm hardly reading the English? 

The waitress is here as soon 

as she sees you 

as soon as she can be 

Grace! 

Naia! 

It's Mandarin like the menu 

but I understand 

this is your world 

I understand so much not like when I look 

at the menu I can't even begin 

to pick a dish off of that 

but I could listen to this forever 

talking like paintbrushes and ink on canvas 

Rowan, 

what do you want? 

I want this world 

with you and shy smiles and clever jokes 

and paintbrush words and restaurants down back alleys 

for dinner? 

my breath catches when I realize 

it's about dinner 

and I have no idea what I want for dinner. 

Naia The Waitress 

is looking at me like my lack of answer 

is a crime like she's the prosecutor 

I'm the defendant 

No 

like she's the parent 

I'm the scared new boyfriend 

yes like that like worse 

I look down 

tap a clash of characters I hardly understand 

glance up Grace's smile 

like it's a comedy movie 

look down her finger tapping another dish 

and nod 

anything else? 

I don't think I passed the test

a fortune cookie,

please?

nod turn around rolls her eyes.

We eat the food is good the company better

I pay the least I could do

we walk into the mist

I think we're the only ones in the world

your red raincoat black hair with little braids at the front

my yellow sweatshirt brown hair and

tucked in my pants pocket

a fortune cookie

a bit crushed from being there

I crack it in half

one for each of us

the message says

Everyone has their own hidden world

their own story

and you will soon get to know someone else's.

This is a "five" writing challenge with the words from OverTheRainbow. The words were: Menu. Mist. Defendant. Fortune. Breath.