The Camera Keeps Finding Our Booth
The diner camera keeps turning to our booth mid-laugh. I timed every swing and still missed what she actually said.
We're in the corner booth at the diner because it's 2am and nowhere else takes four people who just left a show still buzzing. Mara's telling the story about her upstairs neighbor's cat again, extra dramatic tonight, and Jules keeps laughing that laugh where she has to put her fork down.
that's when I notice the camera above the register turn. it's supposed to watch the register. it swings slow, all the way to us, holds for a second on our table, and swings back. I tell myself it's motion triggered, some sensor picking up the fry cook walking past.
it does it again ten minutes later. same slow turn, same pause on us, right as Jules laughs again. I start timing it without meaning to, counting under the table between plate refills.
Jules leans over at some point and says my name twice before I hear her. she'd been trying to tell me something, actually tell me, about her mom, her voice gone quieter than the diner noise should let it get lost in. I ask her to say it again and she says never mind, it's not a big deal, already refolding her napkin.
third time the camera turns, right on cue, mid laugh, and I realize it's not the table it's tracking. it's her. every time, it catches her mid laugh, the loudest one at the table, the one most worth watching.
I don't say any of this out loud. I just watch the camera settle back on the register, and I think about how I heard the machine perfectly and missed her the first time she meant it.