Swan's Way Read Online Free

countertop. Her last customer, a three-hundred-pound trucker named “Slim,” had slopped his coffee, then topped off the spill with a blob of meringue from his lemon pie.
    She glanced around. The lunch customers were long gone. Now the earlybird dinner crowd was beginning to file in. In another hour, the place would be filled again. She needed to leave now .
    “Lucille,” Ginna called, “I gotta go, or I’ll miss the last bus. Can you take care of this for me?”
    The other waitress, owner of the Rebel Yell, shook her red head, as she balanced a huge tray. “Sorry, hon, but I got five blueplate specials, three coffees, a water, and a tea to get out, and Cindy’s late for work again.”
    With a sigh and another glance at the clock, Ginna gave a quick swipe at the counter, then another. Poor Lucille, she thought. What would she do if Cindy—never the most reliable employee—didn’t show up? Ginna would stay if it wasn’t Monday. But she just couldn’t. She had a standing appointment for Monday afternoons, the one bright, exciting spot in her otherwise ordinary life.
    “You go on, hon,” Lucille called, as she served her customers. “I can hold the fort till Cindy shows up. I don’t want you to miss your bus.”
    “Thanks, Lu!”
    Her counter shining, Ginna whipped off her apron and slipped into the ladies’ room. Staring into the mirror over the less than sparkling sink, she grimaced at her reflection and vowed to start eating regular meals. She had dropped twenty pounds in the past few weeks. Her face was drawn, all sharp edges and angles. She looked ten years older than her age.
    “Starting tomorrow, it’s three squares a day for you, Ginna Jones. Lots of potatoes with sour cream, chocolate éclairs, and Lucille’s fried chicken. I think I’ll start taking those vitamins the doctor gave me, too.”
    Still staring, she squinted at her image. Her bottle-thick glasses didn’t help her looks, either. They magnified her eyes, so that she was reminded of a fish staring out of an aquarium. She reached into her bag for the contact lenses she had splurged on a few months ago. She didn’t wear them on the job, for fear of losing one in some customer’s beef stew or vegetable soup. Stowing her unattractive glasses, she quickly washed her hands and face, then popped in the delicate contacts. The drastic change in her appearance made her smile.
    Quickly, she pulled the pins from the tightly coiled braid crowning her head. Her straw-colored hair took on the sheen of old gold, as she brushed it out, long, full, and wavy. Satisfied with the transformation, she grabbed her battered overnight bag from the waitresses’ locker, then headed for the back door in such a hurry that she didn’t even answer when Lucille called out, “See you tomorrow, hon.”
    Mondays were Ginna’s treat, her fantasy, the only time she had all to herself. And, for some reason, this Monday seemed special. She wished like anything that she had gone on her weight-gaining program earlier. That was silly, of course. Her friends at Swan’s Quarter never said a thing about how skinny she was; they were just happy to see her whenever she came for a visit. They were old people, lonely people. They didn’t have many visitors. Consequently, they made Ginna feel like someone really special.
    “Which I certainly am not!” she said, hurrying down Winchester’s busy main street to the bus stop. “Not in this life anyway.”
    The red-and-silver bus pulled up, just as she reached the curb. The door swung open immediately.
    “Cuttin’ it close today, aren’t you, Ginna? I looked for you on my earlier run.” Sam, the driver, gave her a big grin and laughed. He was obviously a man who loved his work.
    “I got held up, but at least I’m not too late, thank goodness.” She fumbled in her purse for change.
    “I’d of waited for you. I know it’s Monday.”
    Good old Sam! He probably would have at that.
    Ginna took a seat near the door, leaned her