Smiles When They Fade

There is a waitress, a waitress sadder than me, but she doesn't want anyone to know this about her, so don't tell her I told you. Sometimes, she laughs a cackle into the quiet aftermath of someone's joke and it is as disruptively disturbing as dropping a stack of dirty dishes in the dining room. Then, just as abruptly as it appears, her smile leaps from her mouth, neglecting to fade naturally. I think there, in the moment when a smile fades, is where true happiness and misery nest. Sometimes she weeps. We ignore her and go on delivering food to tables and writing down orders in our little ringed notebooks. There is nothing we can say. She will cry until she stops.