#3 Hanging On Every Word

The woman in the booth behind me said it. "Our daughter doesn't deserve one more day. I want it done and done right."


I covered my mouth with a napkin. I didn't want any of the other restaurant patrons to see me silently screaming into it. I bit down on my index finger until I feared I might break the skin.

"She wants her daughter dead!" I thought. What kind of a monster says such a thing? Elbows on the table, I rocked forward and back fueled with nervous energy and anxiety. My heart beat so loudly in my chest I assumed anyone passing by my booth could hear it. I started to wonder if I heard what I heard. I'm sure it was out of context. Right?

She was speaking again but I missed it. Fighting for control, I leaned back against the smooth wood of the high back of my booth seat. At first I wished it had been cut lower so I could see the fiends. Now I was grateful for the partition, protecting me from what lay on the other side.

"Let's talk about the price again. And where you decided to do it."

There were two men at the booth! I hadn't heard this one speak before, I'm sure of it. I wish the voices weren't so muffled.

"Is that all you can think about? The price?" the woman said. "I think the price is fair. Even if it's a little high, it'll be worth it to have it done right."

"Dear!" the man huffed. "You never knew how to haggle!"

"Haggle?" she said in a harsh whisper. "Is that what we're doing? Haggling over the price of a life? The value or our daughter's..."

"Hold it now, folks," the other man interrupted. "This is no place to have that kind of talk. I'll walk away from it right now if you two can't control yourselves."

There was a pause. I almost forgot to breathe.

"There. That's better. Have a little more wine. Waiter!"

Again, another pause. I could see the waiter coming over from the bar with a wine bottle in his hands. After the waiter left, the woman excused herself and walked off to the bathroom.

"I'm sorry," the man said. "This is too much for her to handle and..."

"Don't apologize, pal. I've been through this before. It's all pretty common, reactions like that. We just can't have your wife breaking down in a public place, is all."

I couldn't bear it another second. I needed to know who that woman was. I didn't know what I would do next but I just had to see into the eyes of a mother who was willing to kill her own flesh and blood.

I timed it the best I could. I grabbed my purse and walked toward the bathroom door. She would be coming out any second now. I would get to look into the eyes of something unfathomable, unimaginable. A heartless murderer.

I hesitated before the door. Then I reached for it but the handle pulled inward and away from me. The woman stopped short as she nearly stumbled into me. We looked into each other's eyes. A sharp intake of breath from both of us.

"Princess? What ever are you doing here?"