Last week, in chapter 6 Takeda’s parents fought the battle of Chula Vista

Chapter 7: Deja vu

Takeda raced down the street, banking hard up the alley to the rear entrance of Ralph’s. He burst in through the rusting back door and punched his timecard. Ten minutes late again, he thought.

“Wipe that fackin happy look off yah face, yah simple muthafucka!” Ralph said from behind the worn and weathered counter.

“Oh get fucked,” Takeda shot back with a smirk and a nod.

“Happy birthday, jerkwad,” Ralph said. He sliced a pizza into eight triangles without looking and closed the box. “Order up for forty-two Fairfield, Jonesy!”

Jonesy sat in a corner booth, looking at his phone with fascination. He held up a hand, “Dude! She’s fuckin into it!”

“Into what you lazy m-fer?” Ralph said. He shot a fake smile at the growing line of customers at the counter.

“Jesus, man, have some class, you Southie stereotype; you have customers. You, meaning the guy whose name is on the box theyah. And by into it, I mean into Jonesy!” He aimed finger guns at himself.

“Uh, guys…” Takeda said with worry.

“Uh, what…” Jonesy said, mimicking him.

“Some serious deja vu happening. Didn’t we have this same conversation before?”

“About your birthday? Maybe. About someone actually being into Jonesy? I don’t think so, man. Although this bullshiting is so scintillating, I can imagine you’ve heard it before.” Ralph laughed while sliding a pizza box into a delivery bag.

“Hey buddy, you want to sit down? You don’t look so good,” Ralph said, narrowing his eyes at Takeda.

“It’s okay, probably nothing. The sense of deja vu is strong; I’ve never felt like this. I mean, I remember doing this already. I remember it all from this morning. I think it was a dream, so maybe that’s not deja vu… I don’t know. And the birds…”

“Tak, sit. Let me get you some water. I realize you busted your ass racing to get here… not on time. It’s hot out, and you’re stressed. Take a minute,” Ralph shoved a metal folding chair his way and grabbed a bottle of water from the fridge.

“How’s Holly doing? You guys still, you know...,” Ralph said with a grin.

“No… I mean, yeah, but it’s nothing serious, man. She’s my best friend and, I guess, it’s complicated. And she lives across the hall, so there’s that. But, Ralph, there was something about birds…” Takeda squinted as if trying to see his memory.

“Birds? Like this?” Ralph displayed the middle fingers from each hand with joy.

“Why do I come here?”

“I pay you, and you get free food, dingus,” Ralph laughed and clapped him on the back. “Please, do go on about the birds.”

“It was real, but it was in my dream too? I fell asleep on the couch this morning. When I woke, a bunch of birds flew into the sides of my apartment building.”

"Like, kamikaze style?" Ralph said, miming a dive bomber with his hand flying into a half-started pizza.

“I guess so. I slept through it. Anyway, it’s fucking weird. Then this deja vu business.”

“Hey, birthday boy, did the Event happen yet? Could that be what has your head squirrelly? Plus, I’d like to know if it hasn’t. Not sure I want you handing out free food for the good of society and shit.”

“It did—very early this morning. I remember feeling, well, you know how it is. I felt as good as it’s possible to feel. Hope for my future and humanity and all that happy slappy. I can still feel it deep down right now. But the bird thing and the sense I’ve already done this before has dampened it.”

Ralph started tossing pepperonis on a pizza like a champion frisbee thrower. “You know, Tak, you can be an overly intense dude, and because of that, sometimes you take things a little too seriously. I suggest you throw some water in your face, shake off that funk, and enjoy your birthday. Oh, and maybe, you could deliver these quickly cooling pizzas since it’s your job and all.”

“Yeah, on it,” Takeda said, grabbing the bag and reading the tag. “Nice, I can walk this one.”

“Chop-chop, your highness!” Ralph gestured to the door.

Takeda rushed to the front door with the bag, nearly colliding with a little girl coming inside simultaneously. Her father said, “Watch where you’re going, Chimera!” Takeda dropped the pizza and his jaw.

Next week in Chapter 8“For the birds” The trees begin to scream

Bill Bradbury's fiction

Song of the Red-Legged Birds: Chapter 7: Deja…