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The two men at table four were definitely on a date, Kathy decided. One was tall, with dark hair and immaculate purple eye shadow. The other was blond with a pointed mustache. He was dressed in all blue and fidgeted a fair amount. Kathy was very excited to be their waitress. Both looked nervous, keeping their eyes on their menus and stealing glances with pink cheeks. Obvious a first date. This would be fun.
“Hello! Welcome to Windsor Gardens! Do you have questions about the menu?”
“Nópë.”
“Nô, Ƅūt thåńk ŷöũ!”
Kathy blinked. Those were some heavy accents. It took a her a second to figure out what they had said. She went on. “Can I start you off with something to drink?”
“A Čôké. Płéåšë.”
“Jůšţ wâţër.”
Again, Kathy had to take a moment to decipher their words. She cleared her throat, “So a... Coke and a water, correct?” They both nodded and she disappeared to get their drinks. A few minutes later, she took a fortifying breath and went over to take their meal orders.
“Ɨ’ll hӑvë Ћe Ŵїńdşòr Ƀūrgër, ŵїthöūt ţómåtóeş ӑńd łéttûçë. Ăńd ӑ łôådéd pòtato ön Ћe şїdé,” said the tall man.
Kathy’s pencil didn’t move on her pad. She hadn’t caught a word of that. The man was looking up at her, waiting. Reluctantly, Kathy said, “Can you... can you repeat that?” He did. Everything else was a jumble of sounds to her.
“I’m really sorry but I don’t...” She chanced a glance at the blond, who was watching them with concern. The tall man rolled his eyes and turned in his chair. He gestured at the dining room and then mimed eating a burger. “A Windsor Burger,” Kathy said. He gave a thumbs up. Then he mimed some more. The blond man had started giggling at this point. Kathy ignored the embarrassment rising in her cheeks and watched the tall man intently.
She was able to guess the rest of his order and he leaned back in his seat, taking a long sip of his soda. They had drawn a few stares, not helped by the growing laughter of the blond man.
“Sorry again,” Kathy said earnestly. The tall man shook his head and waved his hand like it wasn’t a big deal. She turned to his date, “And for you, sir?” The blond smiled, his mustache twitching slightly. He opened his menu and pointed. “The Cranberry-Apple salad?” He nodded and tapped his mostly-empty water glass. “And I’ll get you some more water!” He beamed.
The tall man looked dumbfounded and honestly, Kathy also felt silly they had played charades instead of thinking to use the menu. She thought he would snap at her or at least glare at his date. Instead, he burst into laughter. The blue man was not far behind. Kathy had to suppress her own amusement, but allowed a barely professional smile on her face. Both men started talking to each other so quickly that Kathy had no chance of keeping up. Apparently she had given them a perfect conversation starter. The rest of the date seemed a lot less tense than it had at the start.
Some tables were giving the men dirty looks, not that the pair seemed to care. Kathy ‘accidentally’ dripped water in those people’s laps to give them someone else to glare at. She could have sworn the tall man winked at her and she grinned.