The phantom

A note. It was the only physical evidence of his existence. It was posted prominently on the wall near the schedule. Zach and Kevin were reading it, pondering what sort of person this Alex Milton was. A few people on first shift had seen him, said he mainly just sat in the office at the computer mainly. He was tall, they said, big. 'He won't last,' Margie had told them through a fog of cigarette smoke when they talked to her before the shift. 'He's too big.' She seemed confident in this regard but Zach wasn't sure. He had been surprised that he wasn't there when he had come in at 3:30, as he would have thought that someone just starting in a manager position would not want to leave early on their first few days, but who knows. Probably for the best, Zach mused. The note read, 'Hello my name is Alex Milton, your new manager. For the new few week's I'm going to be shadowing Gary to see how he does things. I am looking for ways to streamline the efficiency of this place, to increase profitability. I'm not looking for reinvent the wheel or anything just looking for ways to help the diner be the best it can be. If you have any question's call me.' Sincerely, Alex Milton.'

'Then where the fuck is he?' Zach asked openly to Kevin. 'I was coming in to get my check last week and I met him, he seems ok.' Kevin offered. He had a somewhat glazed look in his eyes, and had been acting strange the whole shift. First he had come in 20 minutes late, clocked in, and then gone outside for another 15 while Zach had tickets piling up. Finally Zach had gone outside to the shed and told him he had to come in but even then he wasn't much use. He would switch from the grill to the fryer side, dropped things, in some way's Zach was thinking that maybe it would be easier to just cook the whole shift himself. He had done it before, first on second shift when the person he was supposed to be working with on a saturday night dropped him off and told him it was his last day. It was trial by fire and he had prevailed, but it still irked him that his co-worker couldn't bother to show up in a functional condition.

'Can I go outside for a smoke?' Kevin asked him. 'Yeah, sure.' It was 9:30 and Zach could already tell that Kevin was planning his escape. He had been going outside for breaks all shift, and Zach couldn't tell if it was drugs or booze or some kind of unholy combination, but something was going on out there. He had known Kevin for long enough to know when he was buzzed in someway, and something was definitely going on. Zach walked back over to the line picked up a couple slips from the printer. He threw a couple of burgers patties on the grill. Midnight, again, he thought. A naive part of him had hoped that when Kevin was hired he could cover some of the shifts until midnight, as he said he could, but somehow that was too much. Zach glanced through the window, the restaurant was mostly empty, except for a blond girl sitting at the front counter. Is that? Zach thought. Is it Andrea, Sam's girlfriend?. Sam had left at around 8 saying he was going out with her tonight, and now she was here. Zach waved and she waved back.

Kevin came in from the other side of the line, 'Oh sorry, man.' He said as he came in. 'Don't worry about it.' Zach replied. He had already set up the burgers and was about the plate the order. He pulled up a basket of fries and poured them into a hat. 'Hey do you want one of these?' Kevin asked pulling out a nip of rum. 'Sure.' Zach replied. Should get something after putting up with his bullshit, Zach thought. Kevin put the the  nip on the counter near the microwave. Zach put the order in the window. He watched Kevin walk out and  say something to Andrea, she laughed. Something going on there, Zach thought. He looked out at the clock above the cash register, 5 minutes to ten. Kevin came back into the kitchen, 'Hey man, do you mind if I take off?' 'Yeah, sure.' Zach replied, another long night. Zach walked over and put the nip in his pocket, nips are like currency with him. He thought. Him and his friend's had often thought about saying something about his use, but they also knew what his retort would be. Well all of you drink, smoke weed. Which was true, but with Kevin it was different, Zach would smoke a couple bowls and come back in work a busy line for 8 hours, no problem. Kevin, not so much.

Zach looked, out the window again. The restaurant was empty, Kevin had left. With Andrea. I thought things were supposed to change around here, he thought to himself. He hadn't met this Alex Milton yet but he felt like the note thing was strange. Unprofessional. Why wouldn't he take the time to meet all of us? It reminded him of that passive agressive roomate who always wrote notes about dishes or cleaning. Something is going on with this guy, to be sure.


Sam stared at his phone, willing it to ring. For that sweet sound, to fill his ears. It was almost midnight and she said she was getting off at 8, he had already called her twice, and sent her a text, and he felt that beyond that would be excessive. They had only been dating 3 months now, and that would come off as a little psycho. He took a swig of his beer. He hadn't been drinking for the past week or so but he felt the urge now. It had started at around, 9:30 when it was becoming painfully obvious that she wasn't going to call. It had finally become impossible to ignore at 10:30 when he remembered that A., She wasn't going to call, and B. the store was going to close in a half hour. It was cold and the town was quiet when he pulled into the liquor store. The clerk had recognized him and he contemplated asking him if he knew where she was, but decided against it. It was now less then an hour and he had already gone through two tall boys and was well into the third. Why can't thing's just work out? He thought to himself. Why does everything have to be so involved and complicated?

He picked up the cold nip near the computer and drank it down? I knew it was too good to be true, this girl. Something would go wrong and he would fuck it up in some way, like everything else. He felt like a third world country sometimes, managed by a corrupt ineffectual leader, and fraught with constant civil war. Why can't I just do things like a normal person? The phone rang, it was her. 'Hey,' he answered. 'Hi.' He heard her voice, it was good to hear her voice again. 'Do you still want me to come over?' 'Yeah.' Sam replied. 'Where were you?' 'I was with Kevin. I can explain.' 'Ok.' Sam said and hung up. I don't like this, he thought.