A Free Meal, A Welcomed Relief, and a New Dress...

The restaurant's window glowed like a console television set in the middle of the dusty streets of the New York night. Like televisions of old, the window, too, displayed images of surreality and an unfathomable truths in the midst of all the lies thrust into the faces of those who chose to look within and disappear from his or her own fraudulent truths, even if only for a moment.

A young woman of perhaps twenty and five years, one with deep-set eyes and long fingers that disclosed her northern European descent, sat motionless in a chair; a quiet couple ate from soup bowls, each facing in an opposite directions, exchanged not a word; an overweight black man slapped his knee and laughed with the three small black children at his table; and, a tired waitress danced from kitchen to dining area and back and forced smiles upon every patron in hopes of their seventy-five cents on top of their three-eighty-six check. 

The young woman held a cigarette butt within her fingers; the couple placed their spoons down and folded their cloth napkins upon the table, committed to be separate while together; the black man nodded his head and smiled, agreeing with one of the beautiful children; and, the waitress leaned against a back wall and sipped soda from a straw jutting from a glass soda bottle.

The young woman waved for the waitress; the couple stared at the candle upon their table; the large, black man burped, making all the children laughed; and, the waitress secured her checks and skinned through the tight dining area.

The young woman insisted upon paying for the couple and the black family's meal, she stood and left and left behind a 86% tip; the couple listened to the black family and doubled-over in sincere laughter; the overweight black man leaned toward them and spoke with much animation, hand gestures, and smiles, clearly reeling them into his family's contagious joy; and, the waitress shared news of the young woman's kindheartedness, then cleared the woman's table and envisioned a new dress, a shirt-waist or A-line.     

The restaurant's window glowed... the restaurant's window glowed!