His eyes were fixed on the bill in front of him. It should have been $50 in total. There wasn’t much he ordered; faculty members had other plans for the struggling veteran than just feeding him. When he saw the outrageous bill, his blood started boiling. Despite his age and frailty, they underestimated him. They were going to pay for it. He refused to pay such a huge fee, just exercising his rights. So what if he did something against their policy?
But before we start, make sure to subscribe if you haven’t and hit that notification bell so that you won’t miss any new stories. Knowing the truth about the old man’s past would certainly have made the staff more cautious. Despite his unassuming appearance, he was anything but weak. Pat stared daggers at the waitress when she returned.
“Is there a reason for this fee?” he asked, already knowing.
“Sir, you repeatedly ignored our requests and broke our policy. This is the consequence.”
A feeling of rage coursed through Pat’s body. A sudden calm came over him.
“I didn’t expect to pay so much. I just need to get some cash out of my trunk. Don’t worry, it’s right outside. If you want to watch me, you can.”
Despite rolling her eyes, the waitress didn’t appear to object. Through the front window, Pat noticed the waitress watching him as he walked out of the restaurant. Keeping an eye on him made sure he didn’t do anything suspicious. But that’s exactly what the old man was going to do.
He walked over to his trunk and opened it, a grin on his face. After grabbing the duffel bag, the veteran stared at the restaurant. He didn’t want to do it, but he was forced to. His throat was cleared as he returned to the front door. The waitress’s face was free of annoyance. After unzipping his duffel bag, he pulled out something nobody had expected.
Patrick Abner felt hard done by, even on days when others would have been happy to face the day. He sometimes didn’t understand the point of getting up in the morning. He still felt heartbreak, just as if it happened yesterday. There had been a lot of trauma in his life, but one event shattered his heart.
In his early 20s, Pat decided to enlist in the United States Army and fight overseas. The Vietnam War was a war of politics, and he did not realize how much politics was involved. Following his return from war, Pat met a woman named Joanna and tried to forget about his past. His life had never been happier, but he had no idea what would happen next.
His best efforts were put into raising the two boys. There were many differences between the two boys despite the fact that they were twins. Meanwhile, JN focused more on his mother’s passions. She loved cooking tasty meals for her family and spoiling them with delicious treats. Time flew by, and Pat couldn’t believe that his children had already grown into young adults.
John moved out first, finding his passion in hospitality. Derek, on the other hand, stayed for another year before doing the unexpected. With the war in Iraq in full swing, Derek told his parents that he was going to listen to the call and protect them. But it wouldn’t end well. Pat tried to give his son some perspective on war, but with how patriotic he was, there was no stopping him.
Pat and Joanna worried about him every day, and until one day they got a letter hand-delivered from a soldier. It was the worst news: their baby boy Derek had been killed in action. They would never recover from this. Pat felt powerless to console his wife as he watched her slip further into depression every day.
The married couple grew further apart every day after losing their son. Eventually, Pat understood he couldn’t help his wife, and they ended up getting a divorce. He let Joanna keep the house while he became a wanderer. Pat was practically alone. He decided to move to New York, but it was no less friendly than where he lived before. Then, for another 20 years, he roamed around, getting odd jobs to get by.
He had lost a lot of things along the way, but he always kept two things dear to him: Derek’s old baseball cap and an old photo of him. He’d taken both from his room before leaving the house for good. On a normal day, Pat had heard that a restaurant had recently opened up in New York. He decided to stop by and see how the food was.
He walked in and sat down in one of the booths. The food reminded him of all the delicious meals his wife used to cook, but someone was about to ruin his day. Suddenly, Pat’s attention was ripped away from the menu as he heard a female voice.
“Hello, can I get you anything to drink?” She sounded mean and unkind, but then Pat lowered the menu so she could see his face. Her smile immediately dropped. Something was wrong, but how had he offended her?
She was about to tell him, “Sorry, sir, but you can’t wear a hat inside,” she said in an annoyed tone. He couldn’t believe what she had just said.
“Sorry, but I have to keep it on. It was my son’s,” but before he could finish explaining, she cut him off.
“Well, it doesn’t matter whose it was. That’s our policy.”
Pat decided to stand his ground. “I’m not taking it off, young lady,” he said in a stern voice.
The woman scoffed and stormed off. He thought that was the end of it, but he was mistaken. Pat managed to order food from the waitress when she came back and quickly got some amazing-looking food. It tasted just like home and comforted him in ways he hadn’t been in decades. He nearly cried but kept his composure.
He then asked for the bill, but he was about to see something outrageous. Pat stared down at the bill in front of him. It was supposed to be a total of $50. He hadn’t ordered much at all; the struggling veteran just wanted to feed himself. But the faculty had other ideas. His blood started boiling at the outrageous bill he had been given.
But they had underestimated him. As a feeble old man, he was going to make them pay. He refused to pay such a huge fee for just exercising his rights. Pat was in a bad headspace, and this was not the time to antagonize him. He hadn’t been doing well in recent months, and he was one push away from falling apart.
Pat had done horrible things to people back when he was in the war, and the encounter was bringing back those memories. The waitress was messing with the wrong man. She thought that an old man like Pat wouldn’t be strong enough to stick up for himself. She underestimated him. As the minutes passed, he finally thought up the perfect plan.
The waitress would never see it coming, and when she did, it would be too late. He had the perfect plan in mind, and he wasn’t afraid to go through with it. His eyes scanned the restaurant, and eventually, he found her leaning against a wall, chatting to a fellow waitress. He noticed the way they were laughing and glancing in his direction. Soon, everyone would regret it.
He waved her over and watched as she walked over with a cocky grin on her face. The waitress came back, and Pat stared daggers at her.
“What’s this fee for, sir?”
“You broke our policy and repeatedly ignored our requests. This is the repercussion.”
“Okay, I didn’t count on paying so much. Let me just get some cash from my trunk. Don’t worry, it’s right by the window.”
He couldn’t believe they were about to let him make it to his car. Once he did, they would be the ones begging for his mercy. Pat walked out of the restaurant and noticed the waitress watching him through the front window. He walked over to his trunk and opened it, a grin on his face. The veteran grabbed the duffel bag and stared back at the restaurant.
The look of annoyance was wiped off the waitress’s face. It had been replaced by fear as he unzipped his duffel bag and pulled out something no one expected.
What he grabbed was an old Polaroid. “Do you know who this is?” he said, with tears streaming down his face. It was a photo of a young man smiling at the camera.
“This is my son, Derek, and he died fighting for this country. If he had survived, would you have treated him as bad as you are to me?”
But he wasn’t finished. “And this hat, this is his hat. It’s the only piece of him I have left, and that’s why I’m not taking it off for you or anyone,” he finally finished his emotional rant.
Seeing the scene he’d created, the waitress stared at him before saying, “I’m getting the owner,” before running into the back.
Pat sat down and smiled. He was in on some info that the waitress lacked: the owner, head cook, and manager came out. But it was one man who held all of those titles in this humble diner restaurant. He cooked with a passion and finally managed to open his restaurant after 20 years of trying.
“There he is,” the waitress said as she pointed at the ragged man in the corner. She had no idea what was about to happen. As soon as the owner saw Pat, something stirred inside of him. He stumbled on his words.
“Dad,” he choked out before rushing towards Pat. The old grizzled man knew about his son’s restaurant and wanted to support him, but he hadn’t told his son he was coming. John didn’t even know he lived in the same city as him.
The two embraced each other, but then Pat started telling him what had happened. The waitress wanted to charge me $1300 for keeping my hat on. That’s an absurd policy,” he told his son.
“But that’s when John’s eyes grew wide. ‘What policy? We don’t have one about hats,'” then Jon looked back at the waitress, who realized that she was about to get into a lot of trouble. Trouble she had been taken advantage of by customers. After learning that she’d been making up absurd policies to grift feeble-looking customers, John fired her on the spot.
He took her apron and watched her head out of his restaurant. He turned back to his father, who’d been lost for decades, wandering without a purpose. Then Jon said something that Pat had only ever dreamed of:
“Dad, I had no idea where you’ve been. I know you felt guilty about Derek, but it’s time for you to come home. Okay? I have a spare bedroom, and I’d love for you to meet my family.”
Pat couldn’t believe what he was hearing. He cried in his son’s arms. He would never be alone again.
