"Dancing for Time" by Louella Lester

She guides a party of four across the room to her last open booth and offers menus, before weaving back—table to table to counter—never empty-handed. Delivering a check. Clearing food-stained plates. Depositing empty wine glasses into a grey bin behind the bar. Not one wasted step. Setting down a steaming platter. Replenishing water. Whisking away tablecloth crumbs. Her eyes scanning for needs until all is settled just long enough for her to pirouette. Shimmy past the discreet powder room arrow. Prance down the hallway. Toe a wedge of wood to prop open the backdoor. She slips a cigarette out of her pocket. Lights it. Drags deep. Exhales one long breath of smoke up to cavort, like mist, with the full moon. 

Louella Lester is a writer/photographer in Winnipeg, Canada, author of Glass Bricks (At Bay Press 2021), contributing editor at New Flash Fiction Review, and is included in Best Microfiction 2024. Her writing/photos appear in variety of journals.