Lee Chen attended diligently to his duties, enduring yet another exhausting day of managing the restaurant that bore his name.
He had arrived even earlier than usual that particular Saturday, to work on a valve problem in one of the restrooms after getting only four hours of sleep. Lee did not think much about how little sleep he had gotten, as it rarely reached even six hours on normal days.
The early morning maintenance was soon followed by a full afternoon and evening of almost constant activity; Clearing and cleaning tables, bringing out orders, cooking, passing out coupons, driving deliveries, taking orders, making schedule adjustments for employees, and all of the usual trials and travails of a restaurant owner-operator.
While never doing poorly, in terms of customer traffic, the restaurant’s business had never seemed to grow enough to a point where he could hire the amount of help that was truly needed. Even with as much pressure as he constantly felt, he still could not ask the three employees in his hire to do any more than they were. They currently went above and beyond the call of duty on a regular basis. Lee was very grateful for their extra resilience, as quality workers were becoming something of a scarcity in his observation.
The pressures of what needed to be done, in contrast to the resources available to him, resulted in Lee’s own efforts being stretched beyond the limits. Neither customer nor employee could often tell the full extent of the strain, for Lee held neither bitterness nor frustration within him.
His regular, friendly countenance, and stalwart perseverance on the most frenzied of days, was what had won him a core of regular customers and loyal employees. Though he did not take credit for it, it undoubtedly elevated the performance of his small, but earnest, staff.
When closing time finally did arrive, the most prominent desire in Lee’s mind was simply rest. He looked very much forward to the following day, as the restaurant closed early on Sundays. He was eager to indulge in a few hours of blissful recreation, even if it was only to have Ryan over to drink sodas and watch movies.
Calling up a little extra resolve, he attended to the closing duties with Ryan and two members of his regular staff. They stacked the chairs on the tables and set about mopping up the floors. They cleaned the kitchen, including the woks, dishes, and the rest of his array of equipment.
At the very end, Ryan bagged up the trash and carried it out to the dumpsters, while Lee tallied up the register receipts and prepared a deposit bag.
Lee paid his two staff members a little extra bonus in cash, and thanked them for their sincere, solid efforts that day. Their job finished, they thanked Lee, wished him a good evening, and left for the night.
Circling around Ryan, Lee bolted the front door behind them and returned back towards the main counter. At last, the restaurant was silent and still, his work for the day finally at an identifiable end. The weight and tension dissipated from his shoulders at that moment, a feeling that he had come to savor at the culmination of a long day’s work.
Ryan extended a can of cherry-flavored citrus soda to Lee, not having to ask as the soft drink was well known at the restaurant as being Lee’s favorite. Lee gave Ryan a tired smile as he accepted it.
Taking a deep breath, and following it with a long and gratifying draught of the beverage, Lee set it down and looked wearily towards Ryan.
“Good job tonight, Ryan. I appreciate your help a lot, I really do. It was a very hard day today, more than usual” Lee observed.
“No problem Lee. Did good biz today, from what I saw, didn’t we?” Ryan replied, taking a sip out of his own can. He raised the can in a saluting gesture towards Lee, “To a good day, Lee!”
“Above average, I am happy to say,” Lee replied. “Campus brought us a few more deliveries than I expected. You must have gotten some extra coupons out.”
“I’ve passed out quite a few for the cause. But must have been giving them to all the wrong folks, because Bob wasn’t too happy about the tips today,” Ryan replied with a chuckle, referring to Lee’s tried and true delivery driver.
The man had grumbled throughout the day about the frugal nature of the campus students. The language that he had used back in the kitchen had often been quite colorful. Lee and Ryan had laughed heartily at some of the creative and very descriptive anatomical suggestions that Bob had for the cheap students.
“Oh, he made us aware of that. But I made sure Bob got a little extra tonight,” Lee said, a hint of worry on his face.
Bob was indispensable to his operation, knowing every optimal route and planning his deliveries to the height of efficiency. He did the work of two, maybe even three, mediocre drivers.
“I saw that. And Bob looked pretty happy about it. He’ll stay around. Griping is natural to him, don’t worry,” Ryan said encouragingly. “And about those students. Just have them all work one day and night like this, and they will learn to tip really quickly. They should make it mandatory for cheap tippers.”
“Very good point. I think that would work too. So, I noticed that you haven’t bolted yet. Is Pamela busy tonight?” Lee asked him.
“Yeah, she sure is,” Ryan replied at the mention of his girlfriend. “Says she is just going to stay home and get some rest tonight. You know what that means. But I’m not too worried. She plays a bit, but she knows who the real man is. Nothing else will compare. She’ll learn!”
Lee chuckled as Ryan’s youthful cockiness emerged. “I’m sure she’ll realize who the real man is.”
Ryan smiled. “Hey now, that better not be sarcasm. Don’t you get in on disrespecting me.”
Lee laughed heartily. “You worked well tonight, so I’ll give you a break. Have you thought about what we should watch for the film festival at my house tomorrow evening, if you are up for some movies?”
“You need to get a game system, some day, Lee. And not a used one at the pawn shop. Get a cutting-edge console. But movies don’t sound bad right now. I could do with just about anything at the moment, except some boring drama or silly chick flick,” Ryan remarked.
“We’ll figure something out, either on satellite or download,” Lee replied, finishing off his soda. He crumpled the can in his hand and pitched it into a freshly lined trash bin that Ryan had prepared towards the end of the counter. “Well, there’s the first start on tomorrow’s trash load. I am about done here. Time to get some rest.”
“And you are just going to leave me stranded facing a boring night. I’m not ready to go to sleep yet!” Ryan commented, as he started towards the door. His steps slowed as he approached the glass-faced door. “Looks like there is going to be a thick fog cover tonight!”
“Fog?” Lee replied in curiosity, coming out from behind the counter and walking down its length towards where Ryan stood gaping.
“Yeah, come over here. I could see it even as I walked towards the front door,” Ryan said, turning back towards Lee while gesturing at the restaurant’s entrance.
Lee walked past Ryan, his eyes fixated through the glass of the front door. He slowly unbolted the lock, and swung it open. Ryan followed close behind as they walked outside together.
As Ryan had observed, a rolling fog bank was gradually invading and conquering the city streets. The fog had already become an impenetrable mass just across the street from where the restaurant was located.
The tall street lamps near his restaurant cast a cramped glow, one that was visibly shrinking. The advancing vapors were steadily wafting in their direction, part of an enormous, rising tide.
“This is just plain strange. I don’t understand it,” Lee commented, staring at the unusual mists.
Enraptured, Lee continued to stand just outside of the unlocked restaurant with Ryan close by. The near proximity to the front door comforted him, as his eyes could not see more than twenty feet ahead of him.
The fog mass seemed to progress as if it had a mind of its own. It continued to engulf the area around them, as the density increased swiftly in the immediate vicinity of the restaurant.
“It is just fog, Lee, don’t get too carried away,” Ryan remarked.
He waved his hands about in the misty substance as it encircled them.
“It is, but I still haven’t seen fog move like this,” Lee commented. “Have you?”
Ryan shrugged and grinned. “Haven’t given it too much thought.”
The fog mass continued to shroud both them and the restaurant building itself, until they could not see ahead, behind, or to either side.
Though they were standing just a few feet in front of the restaurant, the familiar construction had been utterly consumed by the wafting sea. Looking down, Lee realized that he could not even see the ground.
The thickness of the fog was like nothing that Lee had ever experienced before.
Of that, he was most certain.
Section III