The Trouble with Normal

I stumbled into the door marked "Exit Only" and Nick, who is sitting at the counter doing the crossword puzzle before he has to cook, yells out. "Morning Micheal! How was Washington?"

I made my way to the other side of the counter and pour myself a cup of the "cook's coffee" which is strong enough to be used as fuel in jet planes. As I do so, Val walks from the wash room and pecks me on the cheek. "Welcome back," she says and keeps walking.

Returning to my usual seat at the counter, Justin flips me the finger and Franklin makes a rush for my newspaper so that he can see where Savannah's newest strip club is located.

Jodee, the owner and my friend, walks over and lays a cookie that he has baked beside my coffee cup. "Here," he says as he munches on one, "these are good." Then he tells me that he is off today and is heading home.

It is a normal morning at the Breakfast Club. Johnny O breezes in and sits near me and is soon followed by Whitley. New comer David is the last to wander in before the place opens.

I am in sore need of some normalcy right now and these feels good though I am a bit off kilter and can't force myself to be ... normal?

Yesterday when our plane landed in Savannah, Herb McKenzie and I sat and waited on the people closer to the front of the plane to collect their things and make there way off so that we could grab our things and follow suit. I was lost in thought and not paying attention to things, when I heard Herb say, "Yes, that's him."

Looking up, the couple in the seats directly in front of us were twisted in their seats and looking at me.

"Micheal Elliott?" a lady with cropped gray hair asks me.

I nod and she shakes my hand. "We are David's parents. Thank you. You helped us so much with him."

Her husband, a very tall man with grat hair stands and turns to face me. "Yes thank you," he says.

I have no idea who David is. As they make there way off of the plane, I tell Herb this. I seem to only remember a handful of the thousands who are helped by Union Mission every year. The episode contributes to me being slightly off kilter.

I take my run on the beach and as I am making my way towards the ocean, Johnny O's car pulls upbeside me and his window slides down. "You holding it together?" he ask in a cloud of cigar smoke.

I shrug my shoulders and continue my run. Afterwards, Goddess is playful and another dog has gone stray and keeps following us so I literally have to drag her on the entire walk. Back home she flops on the floor with a thud and a loud sigh.

So everything seems normal around me. Everything except me.