Paid in Full

two boys growing up without parents reminiscing as old men.

 “Hunny, Lou’s here,” my wife said to me while I was watching TV in our living room. At seventy-six years old there wasn’t much to do at home.

“Ok, tell him I’m gonna find something nice to wear and I’ll be right out. Thanks sweetie,” I said fumbling with my cane to get up out of the sunken in reclining chair. We’ve had the chair since we moved here fifty years ago when we got married. The chair’s been through three kids and consistent visits from Lou.

He’s been there through everything; we’ve  been through everything. My parents died when I was only fifteen. It took everything from us and we were always tight on money. I remember that horrible morning like I remember the day each of my children was born. 

“What are you thinking so deeply about, Pete?” Lou said, knowing he had to stop calling me “kid” and use my real name years ago.

“About Mom and Dad. Remember that morning Mr. Nedbeck came?” I said seeing Lou’s face get hard.

“Yea it was a tough time bud, but look at us now. We’re young and thriving!” He said like he always used to when times seemed gloom without Mom and Dad.

            We arrived at the Diner after a short reminiscing session in the car. The swoop of the leaders on the large neon board displayed on a pole more than a story high read Lou’s Diner. At night the neon letters would light up and sometimes I would see it from the small window in my room back at the apartment when we were kids. It was funny that Lou's favorite place to eat was named after him. He still had that small hint of arrogance he never really matured out of.

            Walking in seemed pretty natural, I mean we’ve been coming here once a year since I turned sixteen so you could say some of the long-term employees knew us.

“Lou, Pete! You’re back! Happy birthday Pete,” Mae yelled with arms wide open and ready to bombard each of us with a hug and a kiss.

“Thank you Mae,” Was all I said every year when Mae greeted us in that overly energetic mood. She has been nothing less than family to Lou and me when she first started working here.

“I’ll bring pancakes and eggs for you Pete, and an omelet and cup of orange juice for you Lou, right?” Mae said after seating us in the same booth that always seemed to be open on this day. I think Mae reserves it for us now because it’s a good booth and I don’t see why no one else would want to sit here.

“Thanks Mae,” Lou said with a smile handing her the menus like routine and adding an old man wink he just recently started to use. His face still shaped itself oddly whenever he did. When she left to give the cook our habitual orders, Lou and I talked like we always talked on this morning.

“Lou, you remember the first time we came here when we were kids?” I asked fumbling with my wrapped up fork and knife.

“What is with you and all the reminiscing on the childhood, brother? Are you going through a mid-life crisis!?” Lou asked cracking himself up trying to lighten the mood, because talking about any of our young childhood memories was never a happy time.

“No mid-life crisis, Lou, just thinking about how everything panned out to make coming here a tradition,” I said with the same chuckle.

Mae had already brought us our breakfast, and we both slowly worked at it.

“You have a way with words, Pete.  Let’s hear your take on our first date at Lou’s Diner,” Lou said waiting intently to hear my story. And so I began.

"What can I get for you boys today?" The waitress asked both of us once we were seated in a 1920's booth.

"Lou, what can I get?" I asked not knowing how much money he brought with him.

"Anything you want kid, it's your birthday! Ma'am, can you please bring a birthday cake once we're done with our meals? My kid brother is turning sixteen today," Lou said giving me a hard smack on the back. I hadn't seen him this happy since the morning we were eating breakfast before we got the news from Mr. Nedbeck.

"Okay then, I'll have chocolate chip pancakes and scrambled eggs on the side, please," I said with a giant smile.

"And for me I'll have an omelet and an orange juice, ma'am,” Lou said handing the menu's to the smiling waitress.

Breakfast was amazing and hanging out with Lou made it even better. I haven't really gotten the chance to talk to him much with him working all the time, but on this Sunday morning on my birthday it was just perfect. Everything seemed perfect.

"Pete, I got something to tell you," Lou started, looking down at his plate while he finished up his omelet.

"What is it?" I asked wondering what in the world could make him so uneasy.

"I only have five dollars today and I know as well as you that this meal was well over five dollars. I'm really sorry bud, I just wanted to make this one special for you," Lou said looking as if he were going to cry.

I took in all that he had said and thought about how my stomach was full for the first time in a long time. Finally I looked up at my older brother. "Lou, this is what we’re going to do. I know Mom and Dad wouldn't be proud but what the heck, we're still kids right? Let's get out of here and leave the check like they do in those movies!" I said it all at once hoping that Lou would be ok with the idea.

"What the hell, let's do it man," Lou said wiping a tear from his eye and grabbing his coat.

We ran out of there as fast as we could all the way to the apartment and locked the door quickly behind us. We were both bursting out in laughter and bent over heaving for air.

"I feel like I'm gonna puke it all up!" I shouted in between gasps for breath.

It was the second time that struck me hard when we couldn't pay in full. But after all those times being stripped of my dignity, I learned a valuable lesson. Some people take for granted the ability to have something paid in full or have something period. If I learned something during my childhood with my brother, Lou, it was that the ability to pay in full was not the important lesson; it is the lesson of being able to accept not being able to pay in full. To accept life as it is and never regret anything, to always strive to be better and live a life where everything you own is paid in full. 

“Mae, will you bring us the check please?” I asked knowing that this time just like every other time after my sixteenth birthday; I would be able to pay my bill at Lou’s Diner in full.

Author's Note

Originally I had the perspective as the two boys going through the story but I changed it to them as old men reminiscing. what do you think?