In My Hood by Endy Page A

automatic garage opener button on his key-chain remote, and the door opened to reveal his Lincoln Navigator Unlimited, his BMW K1200GT motorcycle, and his silver CLK320 Mercedes Benz. He jumped in his truck and backed it out of the driveway. Tapping the button again to close the door, he headed for IHOP to get a quick bite to eat.

Food for Thought
    D esiree was taking her break in the back room of the IHOP restaurant. She had been there for five hours, and she was beat. She still had a few hours to go before punch-out time. She didn’t get much sleep because of all the noise that went on in the apartment. Beverly’s kids ran in and out of the house, slamming the door constantly, and every time they slammed the door, Beverly would yell at them.
    “What the fuck is wrong with y’all niggaz? Y’all know Rae-Rae in there tryna sleep.”
    As if it wasn’t bad enough that they made noise, the neighbors were yelling in the hallways or outside in front of the house, so most of the time she only got a few hours of sleep.
    She sat in the chair at the table with her head on her forearms. She had asked her coworker Darrell to wake her up at the end of her break.
    Meantime, Ishmael pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. He sat there for a few moments contemplating whether he should go in. He didn’t know if Desiree was working or not. Finally deciding to take the chance, he got out of the vehicle.
    Walking into the restaurant he headed to the front register.
    “Welcome to IHOP. Table for one?” the woman asked.
    Ishmael nodded, wondering why she would ask that question when he was the only one standing there. The waitress grabbed a menu and a place mat and asked him to follow her.
    “Right this way, sir,” she beckoned.
    Ishmael followed the tiny woman through the restaurant to a rear corner booth that sat two people.
    Ishmael sat down and looked out the window at his truck. He had a good clean view of his baby.
    “What would you like to drink?” she asked.
    “Um . . . I’ll take a 7-Up,” he stated while looking over the menu. “Um, excuse me, is Desiree working tonight?”
    “Yeah, she here. She on break though,” she said with a crooked smile.
    “Well, I’ll wait until she gets off break to order.” He winked at her.
    The waitress smiled. “Well in that case you need to sit over in her section.”
    Ishmael moved over to the next row and continued to view the menu.
    “Desiree, Desiree.” Darrell shook her awake.
    “Hmm.”
    “It’s that time. You got three minutes left on your break,” he stated.
    “Okay,” she said, rubbing her eyes. “Thanks.”
    She stood and took a deep stretch. Desiree went into the bathroom to rinse her mouth out and washed her face and hands. Exiting the bathroom, she swiped her employee card, punching in from break. As soon as she appeared at the station, the short waitress informed her that she had a customer.
    Desiree rolled her eyes at the hostess. She knew she was on break, so why would she seat a customer at her section?
    There were two other couples in the restaurant. It was slow for a Friday morning. Their busiest nights were from Thursday to Sunday, and of course on the holidays. But that night seemed eerie. It was like a ghost town in the place. Normally Desiree liked it when it was slow, but that evening she needed to keep busy in order to stay awake.
    “How long has he been here?” she asked while peering down at the customer who had the menu covering his face.
    “He just got here.”
    Desiree snatched a piece of peppermint candy that sat in a bowl at the register. She grabbed her pad and pen and headed for the customer to see if he was ready to order.
    “How are you today, sir? I am your waitress and my name is...” Desiree stopped in mid-sentence when Ishmael lowered the menu.
    He looked up into her green eyes and smiled.
    “What are you doing here?” she whispered to him, looking around to see if anyone was watching.
    “Ordering me something to eat.