Underwater Burger Shop

My first experience at a busy burger restaurant where I had a meal all by myself. All I had was my journal and I scribbled away like a lone fool while the world around me swirled with voices.

May, 23, 2015

Inside "The Habit" Burger Grill 

I'm sitting here all by myself ordering a meal I have never eaten before. I've been to "The Habit" before but to only grab fries for one of my friends. I came at a time that is extremely busy; people everywhere like a school of Albacore Tuna fish crowded around, feeding on burgers and french fries. Tuna fish with fair skin, hair, and blue sapphire eyes. 

I must appear like an exotic fish; or more like an eel, covered with sea green scales and a black wave wrapped around my head. My darker features exposed: slightly tanned skin, bold black eyebrows, big, dark brown eyes, and a diamond stud on my nose, glistening like a treasure underwater.

None seemed alarm of this eel. A couple of glances but nothing more.

My burger has fallen apart; I have ordered an Albacore tuna burger. It isn't particularly tasty either. Perhaps I should have stuck to the veggie. 

How spoiled and picky my tummy is. I just threw away a perfectly good piece of fish. At least another person would have enjoyed it, like the 400 refugees that have escaped Burma and crammed together on their tiny boat, forced to drink their own urine. Or maybe a cat.

Not one tuna came to speak to me. Even if I try my hardest to assimilate into their breed, it will never happen. 

An eel I will always be. 

The inner may be like a tuna, consuming the same things that a tuna would consume, but at the end of the day the eel must return back to its cave.

So noisy this place is. It has gotten louder. A group of children in soccer uniforms has just come through the door and has placed themselves on a table near the window. Hair as yellow as the french fries on their paper-french fry boxes, sipping on sodas as the man who brought them carelessly stares off into space.

So much tuna; beautiful tuna. I don't want to stare too much or I will appear to be a cat looking at its prey rather than an eel staring in admiration at the life around me.

What a beautiful, fun, culture. I see freedom when I look at them. 

So much life in this tiny burger grill. So many ages; from the little soccer boys to the old man and woman chomping through their dentures. Its times like these that I wish time would stop. As strange as I may sound, I will have to return to my eel cave soon. 

This world is beautiful, but hanging out with the tuna for too long will result in being captured by a fisherman's net. A dangerous underwater playground indeed.

One say, if God wills, this little eel wants to grow wings and become a flying fish. Being able to soar out of the water and retrieve one's self back into it. To have a right amount of exposure to everything. To live a balanced life.

Maybe next time I'll order a cheeseburger. 

Maybe.

Reviews

[rishi]

I really enjoyed reading this, inspires me to write better :-)

[imagwriteine]

This is really a great composition incorporated with a distinct message, such a good read.
I can really see the eel struggling in the sea, alone, being the odd-one-out.

However I think you can describe more, I see that you are trying do so through incorporating quite a lot of similes and metaphors into your lines. Yet somehow I feel that the description is somewhat lacking, though just a little.

All in all, a really really good short story. Very innovative too.

[Sai]

Hello,
Thank you very much for the review! The reason why it must feel that way is because I was writing everything that was coming to my head as I was sitting in the burger shop. Kinda explains why there is no description. :)

[Samuel Dickens]

What an unusual and interesting story, Sai. Perhaps a sea of years and culture divide us, but I could easily see myself as being that eel. I've never quite fit in anywhere, and know about being set apart from the masses. Very imaginative and creative, you are.

[rickm97]

I absolutely love it! What a great read!
You are quite the writer. This needs to go in a magazine, really!
I enjoyed every word, truly. Love the eel and tuna differences.
I guess sometimes you might feel like the proverbial "fish out of water," but balance is good.
And try the cheeseburger next time...
...but it will fall apart too. Make sure you get extra napkins.

Quite a splendid story.
Thanks so much for sharing it with us.

[Sai]

Thank you very much Rick! :) And that's a great proverbial to describe this write! Didn't even think about it but it makes total sense! :)