Gadgets off the menu

It was a hectic Saturday evening and the menu cards had been much thumbed at Miss Murphy's charming riverside cafe, The Munchies. The clock had struck 10 and it was time to down the shutters. The cards had been stacked up in a neat pile at the billing counter. Chloe, Miss Murphy's hired hand, liked to leave the place in good nick every night. "A place for everything and everything in its place," she'd quip, if ever Miss Murphy suggested she take it easy.   

Lights out, the place slinked into silence, only the mellifluous river gurgled under the star-lit sky. The items on the menu cards too rested on their oars. Tomorrow would be a new day. Who would Miss Murphy pick as the Day's Special for display on the sheeny blackboard at the entrance? Would it be the 'Double-layered fried chicken cheese sandwich' going strong a third day, or would a combo meal be put out in her impressive cursive as the steal deal of the day? The sides knew they'd have no luck ever making it to the centerstage. But the burgers and burritos fancied their chance with every setting sun. And so wafted the thoughts as darkness blanketed the after-hours...

At The Munchies, Sundays usually began on a yawny note, which meant not before 11. Chloe would arrive by 10 to set up the place mostly populated by youngsters. Not like the older folks didn't make a halt, but their visits would be brisk and purposeful, unlike the young'uns who'd lounge around as if it were their second home. At seventy something, Miss Murphy loved their company. She loved the vivacity they infused with their presence, the way they schmoozed. 

But there was something she wanted off the menu. Something she hadn't put out there in the first place. Something that had invaded The Munchies and found a seat at every table, uninvited and definitely not from her culinary stable. So this Sunday Miss Murphy thought to experiment. 'Gadgets off the menu. Tuck them away & and half the price you pay!' read the words on the blackboard.  

Chloe, who was busy sponging the tables, curiously turned around to steal a glance and instantly broke into a smile. She knew that through that offer, Miss Murphy was gifting the spritely frequenters something as precious as their own time. And as if on cue, even the menu cards she held suddenly felt light!    

(The piece is a fiction, not the pic though. That I clicked at a cafe in Mussoorie, a hill station in Uttarakhand, India)