The Best Surprises are the Ones Unexpected by Alicia D

“What can I get for you?” The waiter with the name tag that read SCARLETTE asked. She clicked her pen and examined the tip of it before deciding to meet it with her tong.
“Uhh,” I said flipping though the menu once more to make my final decision. The menu looked as if the owner printed it off his computer himself. There were unneeded spaces between the listed appetizers and a coffee ring stain under the plastic sleeve. “Ill have the cheeseburger, with a side of fries.”
“Need anything to drink?”
“I’ll take root beer if you have it.”
“Yep,” a couple of notes jotted down on her pad, and then she pointed her pen at Turtle. “What about the little one?” I looked down at the booster seat where Turtle was chewing on the package of coloring crayons that the restraint supplied.
“Do you have macaroni-and-cheese by any chance?”
“Yep,” a couple more notes jotted down and she put the pen behind her ear and walked away, vanishing from sight behind swinging doors. The place was small and at the far end was an even smaller bar with one guy sitting on a stool. Spread out in front of him was six empty glassed and one half full glass of beer in his hand. A T.V. hung from the ceiling above the waiter’s head that flashed a bunch of random numbers. The flooring was old, nearly black wood, and the booths had craters in them exposing foam that children from years passed picked away at. There was an old musky smell that roamed the air and mingled with grease from all of the burgers. “And here you go,” she placed down a plate in front of me.” Cheeseburger with a side of fries and macaroni-and-cheese for…”
“Turtle,” I said filling in the blank. “Her name is Turtle.”
“Ah, what a different name,” SCARLETTE said. “Hope you don’t mind me asking, but how did you come up with that name?”
“Well,” I said, “it’s a long story,” I assured her.
“Its fine,” she took a seat across from me and brought her knees up to her chest, wrapped her arms around them and settled her head on top of her knees. “I have all day, it’s not like I have a lunch rush to deal with, but continue, how did you come up with her name?”
“Well I decided to pick up my life and leave, so one day after work I decided to start over.”
“Start over?” She said interrupting me.
“Yeah, so I drove until I couldn’t drive any more, until all of the gas in my car’s tank ran out.” I took a bite of my cheeseburger and Turtle picked up the noodles with her hands smashing it all over and missing her mouth. “Once I reached Taylorville I decided that my new name would be Taylor.
“You just changed your name?”
“Yep, just like that. One day when I was leaving here I went to put the keys in the ignition when my passenger door swung open and some woman’s head popped in. ‘Please take her’ the woman said and she dropped a baby in the passenger seat and closed it shut again.”
“Oh my,” Scarlette said snatching up a French-fry from my plate and shoving it into her mouth. “So Turtle is not your child?”
“No,” I said pushing the plate closer to her and Scarlette shook her head and rested her head back on top of her knees. “When I brought her to where I was staying I noticed that she had been beaten and molested. I was washing her when she clung on to me; it was like she didn’t want me to let her go.” I sighed with a smile and looked over at Turtle who had a smile on her face, along with noodles. “So I named her Turtle.” Scarlette seemed so interested in my story and I felt like I should continue, like she wanted to hear more so I gave her more. “Its hard to raise a child, even more when you’re a teenager and when its not even yours. I do love Turtle though,” I sighed and smiled. “I have done everything for her just to keep her here with me, and I’d do anything for her no matter who she belongs to.”
“I know what you mean,” she said right after I paused.


I looked around to busy myself from the quiet, stale air between us. The man with the six glasses had added four more to his collection. When I looked back at Scarlette she didn’t remove her eyes from off of me. I waited for her to break her gaze before I allowed myself to clean up Turtles mess.
“Scarlette,” a man with an apron on came up from behind the swinging doors. “What are you doing?” His hands flew up in the air above his head. “I need dished to be washed back here, c’mon.” Although, Scarlette didn’t seem to mind, she didn’t even seem to notice him.
“It almost sounds like what happened to me,” she snatched the butter knife out from Turtles hand before I had even noticed she stole it from off my plate. “See three months after Michael was killed in a car wreck,” she said as if I already knew who he was. “I found out I was pregnant soon after,” she continued. “I felt myself all alone, I mean,” she clarified. “I lived with my mother and she helped out from time to time but If it wasn’t for my best friend Halley I would have never survived teenage pregnancy.”
“Oh you’re a mom?”
“Yeah, shocked huh?”
“I just never would have-“
“-Guessed?” She finished my sentence for me. “I know right, too young and like you I never planned on it, I never planed to have Grace.” Scarlette picked up both of our plates and started to walk towards the back where her boss had emerged from several minutes ago. She stopped and turned back to me. “The best surprises are the ones unsuspected, you know.”
I smiled at her; then looked back at Turtle and then back at Scarlette.
“The food’s on me,” and she once again vanished behind the doors and the walls of the Bar.