20080109

A Working Lunch

by L. John Ribar

A tall man with short, dark hair enters the restaurant, a pretty blonde girl on his arm, and quickly takes the seat the waitress offers. As the girl looks for something new to eat, he strokes his neatly trimmed goatee and looks through the crowd, his intense gaze searching as if his meal was out there, and not on the menu. After a few moments of silent review, he temples his fingers in front of his face, his eyes lowering until they are nearly closed, and says, "He's here." "Where?" she whispers, not wanting to look up from her list of likely selections. "At the back, smoking cigars with about five or six others." She still refuses to look up, but lets out a little grunt, and then, "Can I at least eat first this time?"

6S

L. John Ribar, who wrote non-fiction computer books in the 90's, started writing fiction only a year ago. This year he successfully completed ScriptFrenzy, the 3-Day Novel Contest, and Nanowrimo. Now he's settling down for some real writing. (For 6S, he is the author of Taking My Wife to Breakfast.)