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Time definitely was a funny thing. Most people didn’t think about the passing of it unless they had good reason to … some deadline approaching, something you were eagerly looking forward to that just couldn’t get here fast enough. And then there were those extremely rare cases where you were caught up in some kind of time loop and things were repeating over and over. That definitely would be rather annoying, if you were actually aware that’s what was going on. Of course in Lisa’s case she wasn’t annoyed at all. Quite the contrary. She was actually looking forward to every new day. Or more accurately every Tuesday. Even if it wasn’t new. Well it always was new in some way. Eventually.
That first Tuesday seemed so long ago – hell, it probably was long ago … she stopped counting after the first couple weeks -- when she first called him out and he revealed himself in the diner. Her Pancake Man. He had snapped them away from the diner, everyone still in frozen animation, and popped them into a room at the nicer motel on the outskirts of town. She felt a tiny bit odd. Trickster or not -- handsome Trickster even -- this type of stuff was going to take some getting used to. But she got used to it surprisingly quickly. He was very charming and playful, and he made her laugh and even giggle as he snapped away their clothing bit by bit, kissing every inch of her as it became exposed, occasionally stopping for a bite of pancakes which made her shake her head at him and laugh even more. Especially when he would feed her a bite, or accidentally dribble some on her and then have to “clean it up”. She did gently stop him after awhile though, saying she didn’t want to go too fast just yet. They had lots of time, right? Lots of Tuesdays? He rolled his eyes a little as she threw his words back at him, but he smiled sweetly and rolled over beside her, pulling her to him. “That’s right, pretty lady.” He kissed her face and neck as his hands stroked down her back, both his mouth and fingers still a tiny bit sticky from syrup.
“So now what?” she asked. “How does this work? I mean, what, I have to do the rest of the day, go to bed, and then I wake up and it’s … today again?”
“Depends on the day,” he said. “Sometimes. Other times it resets earlier.”
“Why?”
He gave her a chastising look. “Questions questions questions. I’ll bet you were that annoying kid in school who was constantly raising her hand about every little thing.” She smiled a little but still looked at him and he shrugged. “There’s not really a rhyme or reason. It’s whatever I see fit to do. Or how things play out.”
She thought about asking more about that, but let it go for now. Especially since he was now nibbling on her ear in a wonderfully distracting way. “So are we going back to the diner then? I mean you have to … let them go, right? And I guess I need to be there too.”
“Yep. Time to go back to today. Gotta clean up your mess too,” he mildly scolded her. “Back in the kitchen for you, and I’ll have to do a little whammy on Stretch and Joey Tribbiani so they don’t remember you standing there.”
“Okay. Well I guess we should go. I feel kind of bad that they’re all still … stuck.”
He rolled his eyes again. “They’re fine. Stop worrying about all them. You just worry about yourself. Stay in the kitchen and do your thing. And then I’ll see you again tomorrow.” His eyes gleamed. “Make something yummy tomorrow. Something we can have fun with even.” Then his look turned naughty. “And feel free to wear some nice underthings too.”
“Hey!” she laughed, blushing. She glanced down at her simple light blue bra and panties. “I dressed to stand in front of a hot grill all day. I had no idea this morning would turn out the way it did.” In so many ways, she thought.
“Uh-huh. Good to always be prepared,” he said.
“What are you, a Boy Scout?” she asked jokingly.
“Oh hell no,” he said. “I’m pretty much the antithesis to their whole spiel. Besides, beige is not my color.”
She laughed. Then said casually, “I was a Girl Scout for a little.”
His eyebrows raised. “Really,” he said thoughtfully. He snapped, and suddenly she was in the scout get-up of her youth -- white blouse, green skirt (a little shorter than she remembered), green knee high socks, and a green vest with plenty of badges and bling. Plus a little green beret on her head.
She looked at him, her eyes wide, and tried not to crack up. “Oh, that’s just wrong,” she said.
“And yet, so very right,” he said, leaning in close. She took off the beret and swatted him lightly. He snickered. “Fine. We’ll bookmark that one for another Tuesday.”
_______________________________________________
And so it went on. The next day was very odd, knowing from the get-go that it was all repeating. She was full of anticipation from the moment she woke up. How was she supposed to get through the day, knowing what was going on, knowing what was to come (for the most part)? Somehow she kept her mind focused on that “go about your business” mantra he had said a few times. That seemed to work. She even managed to ignore Pancake Man (and later, Tall Guy) at the diner, other than a quick glance his way each time she plated food and placed it on the shelf. He mostly stayed concentrated on his newspaper, but his eyes glanced up from the newspaper once and briefly stared into hers with a smoldering look, causing her cheeks to flush and a tiny smile to work at the corners of her mouth. Even in the visage of the middle-aged man, she could tell it was him by his mannerisms and seductive look.
Nothing really happened until her shift was completely over. She walked out the back door and was suddenly in the motel room. She barely had time to register this when strong arms grabbed her and she found herself picked up and thrown over his shoulder. She shrieked and laughed a little as he quickly moved towards the bed and tossed her playfully onto it, then jumped right on top of her, pinning her down with his body and staring at her quite mischievously.
She giggled, then gave him a coy look, trying to hide her excitement. “Getting right down to business today?” she asked.
“That depends …” His amber eyes gazed into hers. “Did you remember the goodies?”
She bit her lip. “I had no time at work ... I was going to try and make something when I got home…” she trailed off, trying to return his mock disapproving look with an apologetic one.
“Hmmm … strike one.” He raised an eyebrow. “What about the other goodies?” She gave him an innocent look, then showed a quick flash of black lace that caused his face to light up. “Oh that’ll get you a reprieve for now,” he said seductively. And things proceeded to get very wild and playful and fun, with wrestling and tumbling, and kisses and tickling pretty much everywhere. She still stopped things before they got too far, even if she did let him do some very nice things to her (and her to him). It was definitely getting more difficult to resist though.
Resistance was pretty much gone the third Tuesday. Another long, draining Tuesday in front of the grill, and she was disappointed to walk out the back door and find herself actually behind the diner still. She sighed and trudged home, feeling more and more exhausted and disappointed by the minute.
But when she opened her apartment door and walked inside, she found she was in a large bathroom illuminated with candles. There was a huge tub almost overflowing with bubbles, soft music playing, and there he stood beside it with a rose in his hand and a charming smile. She returned the smile and made her way over to him where he pulled her into his arms and kissed her slowly and gently, erasing the tension she had been feeling. Soon they were in the tub, drinking champagne, eating strawberries, arms hooked around each other, legs tangled, everything sweet and sensual, other than a brief moment where she burst into giggles after listening a little closer to the music. “Air Supply?” she asked with a laugh. “Hey, it works,” he said back with a irresistible smile. And then his mouth was on hers again and she forgot about the cheesy music as the water began to splash and slosh, dousing some of the candles. He snapped the two of them away and onto her bed covered with soft towels, and she lost herself in everything he was doing, clutching at him and moaning and feeling like she was in Heaven.
And thus it continued, day after day. Some Tuesdays she didn’t even make it to the diner, or through her whole shift even, before he swept her away. Other Tuesdays it was later in the day. It was always a surprise, as was what he had in mind for that day too. There were fun, playful Tuesdays, and romantic, passionate Tuesdays, and wild and crazy Tuesdays. The girl scout uniform made a reappearance one day, eliciting quite an interesting adventure that included not only a couple boxes of cookies and some milk, but also him giving in to her demands that he go the Boy Scout uniform route as well and ultimately demonstrating his knot tying abilities. A few times he snapped them away somewhere else … a waterfall in Hawaii once, a quaint little café in Paris another time, and even a plush, tacky room in Vegas. But mostly they stayed right there in Broward County. And she did occasionally make some sweet treats for them to share and have fun with, his absolute favorite being a chocolate meringue pie she whipped up one afternoon. Needless to say, she’d never be able to look at another one ever again without her face flushing and her grin stretching from ear to ear.
It was strange yet wonderful, and Lisa found herself not minding the repetitive parts of it. She didn’t ask him too many questions about himself, just a few here and there that tended to result in vague answers anyway. He wouldn’t even give her his name, simply said she could call him what she wanted. Nothing seemed to really fit him in her mind, so she let that go. She also didn’t ask what was going on with the tall guy and his friend, or how long this would all continue. Part of her wanted it to continue indefinitely, as weird as that sounded. She tried not to think if Tall Guy felt the same about that, because her gut told her he did not. And while she felt like she should care … well all of this time with her Pancake Man was so tempting and so good, that it was easy to just ignore everything else.
And then one day, without any warning … it stopped. She had been working the kitchen as usual. Pancake Man had just left. She was just “going about her business” as always. And the next thing she knew … she woke up in her bed. She was startled. That previous day had been the first Tuesday since it started that they hadn’t gotten together at all. And she knew something wasn’t right about that. But she could also tell something wasn’t right in general. Something was finally … different. And sure enough when she turned on the TV, she just about fell over. It was Wednesday.
She looked for him on her way to work. When she got to work. He didn’t come in. Breakfast time turned to lunch. She muddled along, confused. It was becoming slightly hazy. She went through the day upset, burning food and forgetting orders. Doris and the others kept asking what was wrong. She lied, gave them excuses of feeling sick, not sleeping well. She thought about going home. But she stayed, hoping he would still come in. He never did. It dawned on her after awhile that Tall Guy didn’t either. That just further reinforced the idea that something was wrong. Something had happened. But what?
And then it was Thursday. She had gone to bed Wednesday hoping she would awaken to find it had reset back to Tuesday, but it didn’t. Thursday came and went. No Pancake Man. She thought about looking for him, asking around. But what would she say? Who would she describe, the middle-aged man or him? It was crazy. It had been from the start, but she hadn’t cared. And now, how could she even begin to explain it to others, or ask them for help?
Friday came. The same thing. Except … it was definitely getting hazy. Who was she waiting for? She was having trouble remembering exactly. Sometimes something would start to trigger it. Like when she made an order of pancakes for a big breakfast platter. Something about pancakes seemed familiar. Or should be. But she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. She could kind of sense some things. That she was missing someone. Maybe even worried about him. But … why was she having trouble remembering the specifics of who he was and how she knew him?
Saturday she was off work. She was bored and restless, but not sure why. She felt like she should be looking for something. Or someone. She felt as though she was missing out. Which was odd, because fun, exciting things did not typically happen to her …right?
The days passed, and her mundane job and life continued on. She dreamed at night sometimes, vivid and odd dreams about strange places and silly, fun times, and sensual romps with a sexy guy whose face she couldn’t see clearly … except for amber-colored eyes and a mischievous smile.
Week after week, month after month. Spring passed, then summer. She still had dreams here and there, and she still would feel sometimes a sense of déjà vu, or an odd sense of something familiar. It was fleeting enough that she didn’t dwell on it too much. But part of her wished she could remember. She felt like it was good, that it had been really good. Whatever it had been.
* * * * * * *
It was Wednesday. Thank goodness. Tuesdays were always such busy days at the diner, and Lisa would usually be exhausted by the time she got home. Frustrated too. It was weird though, this particular Wednesday. For one thing, she really didn’t feel like yesterday had been Tuesday. And there was this odd sense that a lot of time had passed when she knew it hadn’t. She felt like summer had just flown by, yet it was only a few days past Valentine’s Day. Maybe she needed a vacation. Or something to take her mind off things. Or someone. She dreamt some pretty interesting things in terms of that, but her waking life paled by comparison, for sure.
Breakfast was just about over, and she had just started to get some lunch orders now. Breakfast was definitely her forte, and she always preferred those orders. Of course like any good diner, they served breakfast all day so she still might get an order or two. In fact Doris sent a slip back for an order of pancakes. No problem. She loved to make pancakes. Suddenly Doris’ head appeared back in the window.
“Ah shoot Lis, you didn’t start that breakfast order yet did you? For the tall stack?” she called back.
Lisa shook her head. “No, I just grabbed the slip. I was just about to.”
“Oh good,” Doris said. “I got distracted and forgot to tell you, it’s a special order.”
“Oh,” Lisa said. “Okay. What’s the deal?” She glanced at the grill and saw the burgers she had started were ready to flip. She grabbed a spatula as Doris answered her.
“Guy wants his pancakes made with extra sugar and extra vanilla.”
A customer called for her and Doris turned away before she could see Lisa’s head slowly raise, or the shiver that obviously went through her. Or the large smile that slowly began to spread across her face until she was grinning like a kid on Christmas morning.