No one replied. The face in the reflecting glass stared back. Marianna pretended she was the waitress at the diner. She liked talking to herself like that. Pretend that she was at the diner. She would say it over and over again. "Welcome to the Gas City Diner!" Sometimes she would add "May I take your order?"
Then she would add in other lines. From other people. "Gas City. Greatest coffee in the world." "Damn good coffee!"
"Gas City. Gas Gas City Bitch!"
She had a lot of time to pretend these days. And she'd spend much of her days doing so. Felt so different than being up in
Spacecity
. No more feeling crammed. Freedom. Open air. The ability to drive for hours and have no where to be. The only place she looked forward to being now was her one meal that she'd take at the diner.
Other than that she did what would be described by others as nothing. She didn't need to work for awhile. Had enough in her savings account to cover all the auto-bills for another two years or so. She assumed she would become inspired before then to do something. For now she woke up. Pretended. Drove around. Took her coffee and meal at the diner. Then drove around some more. In the evenings she would watch TV while drinking soda water and fall asleep alone.
Sometimes she would go back over the messages from Keith. The latest she had yet to reply to.