Betsy's Adventure (Fiction) by Nicholas J. Carter

Betsy's Adventure
by Nicholas J. Carter

“Lets go on an adventure,” I recommend, staring listlessly through the frosty window of the Main Street Diner at the few cars passing under the light snow outside, while on the inside the 2 A.M. “fresh from the bar” crowd piles omelets on the alcohol which sloshes in their stomachs, and waits for the battle of beer and eggs.

Betsy doesn’t answer at first. She sprinkles a packet of sugar into her half cup of cold coffee, looks contemplative, and burps.

“Okay, lets,” she finally states. With that she stands up in her seat, then onto the table, runs and springs through the window with a loud crash.

I scream. The gale of restaurant chatter dims to a breeze over an island of laughter inhabited by three drunken girls. I rush outside and down the half-flight of stairs at the entrance, a crowd of other patrons following, and find Betsy kneeling on the sidewalk, brushing twinkling flecks of glass from her sea green sweater. Dozens of other diners watch from the windows inside, a few poking their heads out of the now empty frame like baby birds from a nest. Betsy’s breath floats up in front of the amber streetlight like a cloud passing the sun. She laughs at me, nervously, holds her hands up to the crowd to show them tiny brooks of blood trickling from her trembling palms, the little drops hanging from her fingertips like ripe, red grapes.

Author bio:

Nicholas J. Carter has published two stories in the University of Massachusetts Boston literary Magazine, The Watermark. The second short story, titled "At Bay," won that publication's award for fiction.