Room Service (88 hits)
Category: UberMadness! EntryRating: 2 on 1 review (Rate this item) (V)
Submitted by Parlor Trick (View user info) at 2006-11-07 10:04:16 EST
This post was an official UberMadness! entry. Click here to view the original matchup.
The woman held her drink with both hands and watched the seconds succumb to minutes, on the clock over the bar. She checked her phone; this couldn't be happening.
Maria watched from the hotel lobby as the woman from Room 341 ordered another drink. It was happening, as it had before, another woman waiting, another woman believing in things not there.
Her shift was over but she had important work to do. Six days a week, Maria delivered private dinners to hide away lovers, champagne and chocolate deserts to bloated businessmen with generous expense accounts. She had intended years ago to invest herself differently, but those desires died when Fernando quit paying attention.
Her fingers wrapped around the crumpled note in her pocket as she watched the lone woman at the bar seek her composure in a forth glass of wine. Minutes earlier Maria was paged to deliver flowers, to the woman in Room 341. The opened card read simply "Cynthia, I'm sorry ~ Richard". No one was there to receive the gift.
The apology, it appeared, was preceded by undesired news. Vanilla scented candles with tags still attached were discarded in the basket by the bed. Relieved of their contents, miniature bottles of brandy and rum had been tossed in the bathroom sink. A crumbled piece of hotel stationary lay on the floor in the corner. Maria noticed the details.
It was over a year ago when Maria had first seen the couple in the hotel lobby, kissing before the elevator doors closed. They were the giggling disheveled lovers ordering the Devil's chocolate cake in place of dinner. She unfolded the paper from the floor.
R ~ I would rather die
than spend another moment
waiting for you. ~ C
It seemed the woman had decided more waiting was in order and in desparate denial that Maria understood well, the man's rejection was pardoned.
With contrived casualness the woman from Room 341 checked her phone and tucked a dark curl behind her ear. Her face, painted by number, tilted in the direction of the door. Black heels bounced nervously on the lower rung of the stool, traitors to the calm.
Perhaps he wasn't coming.
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He wasn't coming. Maria knew the signs. Fernando had taught her. Years ago in the most insidious of conduct Fernando laid beside her and protectively traced the outline of her lips. He placed his mouth on hers and sucked in her breath, their eyes and lips locked in a moment of infinite oneness. Beneath a winter blanket, his legs wrapped around hers and she pulled him inseparably into her. So deep her need, once he entered there was no removing him without destroying the host.
It happened gradually, a slow bleed. For Fernando, the pinnacle of their relationship happened close to its beginning. Its decent proceeded slowly. Fernando drifted and began breathing on his own. He didn't allocate the same time for the skinny hotel maid who spoke large of management and college degrees. He had new friends and associates whose dreams warranted attention. Still she had waited.
He offered himself in decreasing portions and Maria contorted as best she could to meet his changing needs. At last he needed nothing more of Maria and she sat alone at a table checking her phone. Apologetic flowers arrived the next day with a card simply stating "I'm sorry Maria ~ Fernando" She had waited into the hours; days and months that followed for him to erase the wrong. Even after his name appeared in the engagement section of the city news, Maria expected him.
The call never came and she continued her sentence fourteen years and counting.
--------
It was still before six but the lights in the bar were dim. Maria approached the woman and took the chair next to hers. Touching Cynthia's arm, Maria spoke.
"He's not coming."
Cynthia, acutely aware of the touch, turned automatically, "Pardon?" She recognized the woman's face from somewhere.
"He's not coming."
"Wha..."
"Richard is not coming."
Who are you? Cynthia granted her full attention. "Do I know you? How do you..."
"I've worked Room Service on Mondays for some time now," Maria interrupted. "I delivered some flowers to your room a little while ago. The card was open. I saw you here and thought you would want to know." She placed the small textured card framed with deceitful daisies, on the bar
"I'm sorry." Cynthia read the words aloud to the witness who seemed to understand their significance. "He's sorry. Ha!" The words slurred from her mouth as she waved her hands expansively spilling the contents of her purse in the process.
"Let me help you dear. Stop waiting. Let me save you from a fate worse than death." Maria folded the women's coat over her arm and collected her things. "I'll take you to your room and tell you about Fernando on the way."
---------
The lock clicked on door 341 and Maria guided Cynthia into the room. "I still think about Fernando. I heard his wife died about two years after they married, suicide they said. Broke his heart. He never called me though, even then. A sad ending all the way around. Can't let that happen to you my dear. We can't let that happen."
"Maria, I am so glad you're here," Cynthia clung to her shoulders for balance and kicked off her shoes. "Stay awhile, please." Her was voice thick and fading. "I feel like I'm dying."
"Poor dear. Let me get a bath ready. You've paid for this expensive tub you might as well use it. You can soak and relax and I'll tell you some stories before I leave for the night. I hate to see you suffer honey. I hate to see you go through this."
Maria watched as Cynthia slid into the foaming water, her body young and smooth as hers once was back when Fernando wanted it so. "It's a beautiful thing, love. Pure and uncut like that. It doesn't just go away with the flowers." Maria brought Cynthia a towel to fold beneath her neck. "Close your eyes honey. I'm going to help you."
"Thank you." Cynthia whispered as her eyes drifted shut. "Help me."
Maria removed the small straight razor she kept in her bag for just such occasions. She smoothed the hair from Cynthia's face. "Sleep darling. We'll get through this." Once her breath deepened, Maria held Cynthia's arm below the surface and delivered her mercy. With one sudden motion the woman was spared. Barely a groan escaped Cynthia's lips as her torment was released from a hole in her wrist. Her sentence completed in the time it took the water to become a lover's red.
Maria stayed until the waiting was over. Before leaving she placed the crumpled note by the tub where she would find it in the morning.
"You're welcome." She whispered and door clicked shut behind her.
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Submitted by TheUniter (user info) at 2007-06-05 12:19:22 EDT (#)
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