She stood across the snowy street, watching unnoticed as they hustled their way into the Empire Grill at 11:55 a.m.
The men were wearing smart black wool coats and scarves; the women, soft leather boots that reached to their knees, with heels that required negotiation on the uneven pavement. They detoured onto the curb to avoid a couple of unhomed men on the sidewalk. They were in pairs or threes or fours, sometimes sixes, who had driven downtown together in one of the group’s SUV or minivan.
She could see the restaurant hostess at the door, signalling that they were to go to the back of the restaurant, where long tables had been set up to accommodate them. On the way to the tables, they hung their smart coats on the silver racks against the wall.
She could picture it all; she’d done it dozens of times before. Last year, she thought she’d be doing it again. She could picture the mostly red and black clothing, and the un-elflike women wearing red elf hats.
The stout sales reps tucking into their slabs of meat. “I don’t need a knife for an 8 oz. steak – that’s just an appetizer.”
She hadn’t moved from her spot two hours later when the laughing clusters came back out. This time one of them spotted their former co-worker, bundled up in a bulky beige coat, leaning against the brick wall with an empty McDonald’s coffee cup and a green cellulose shopping bag, giving the impression she’d been shopping.
“Hey, Mary,” shouted Joe, as the others turned around to look and wave. “How’s retirement?”
“Great!” she called back. “Busier than ever!”
They waved again, and hurried away to get back to work.
She tossed the coffee cup into the trash bin. As she started walking towards Chapters to warm up, a voice to her right yelled, “Want a cookie?”
“What?” She turned around and saw a rumpled man in a torn black jacket. He looked a bit familiar, and as she walked towards him, the odour of cigarette smoke became stronger. “Andre?”
“Yes, Andre. You used to come to the shelter sometimes and serve lunch. What’s your name?”
“Ah, yes I did,” she agreed, pausing to think. She used to do a day there as part of her company’s promotion of community service. “I’m Mary.” She looked at Andre more closely, toque pulled down over his bushy eyebrows, holding a box of cookies in his wool gloves.
In his husky voice, he repeated his offer. “Want a cookie?”
“I shouldn’t take his cookie…there are only a few left… will he be insulted if I don’t take his cookie?” Her options shot through her mind. She decided to reach out for the cookie, pulling it from the plastic box with the pink fluorescent half price sticker. He grinned as she took a bite.
“So, what do you do around here?” she asked him.
“Hang out…”
