into the dark

 

Stormy Night

It was a dark and stormy night as Bob waited in the doorway.  His gaze was fixed on the all night diner across the street.  The misting drops, smattered on the blackened roadway.  Drops of rain spattered on the canopy Bob stood under.  In silence, Bob stood there, listening of the drifting drops of rain float down the awning onto the sidewalk and across to the gutter. Bob’s gaze moved up and down the street, eyeing the occasional passing car.

The movies house down on the next block had just let out and people were drifting to the dinner or their cars.  As the young couples wander into the diner, Bob shifted to the other side of the doorway. Reaching under his topcoat, Bob slipped out a cigarette, carefully shielding it as he placed it on his lips.  Using his hat to shield some of the moisture, Bob reached in to his pants pocket.  There was a flash of light and the cigarette was lit. 

Bob straightened up, his look returned to the diner across the way.   The couples from the movie house were seated and very animated in conversation.  Joe the local janitor sat at his end of the counter.  Soon he would go down the street and begin his job of cleaning the office building a few doors down the street.  Hal from the all night gas station sat a couple of seats away, having his coffee and pie before heading off to work.

It was a dark and stormy night as Bob huddled in the doorway.  The cold fingers of the wind would find it way into Bob’s doorway.   Shuddering a bit, Bob pulled his collar up, flicking his finished cigarette into the gutter.  Edging out of the doorway, the solitary figure glanced down the vacant street.  On this dark and stormy night, downtown was enveloped in silence of rain smattering off the buildings.