Elgin Street Diner

A 24-hour diner located in Ottawa, Canada, that is often frequented by goths, spookie-kids, freaks, and tech support workers (usually employed by Taima), who often spend hours there at a stretch.

Home of the famous four cheese poutine.

I was sitting in the booth at the far wall. He was next to me, the others were across, absently chatting about sex and rainbows. The waiter came; he was a jumpy guy, obviously on some kind of snortable. He slid our plates off his arm and disappeared. Suddenly, a thought occurred to me. I don't know why I said it out loud. Maybe it was the weather, maybe it was the way he was talking down to me, I don't know.

"You know, Sean, you're the kind of guy I could marry but never date."

He calmly stopped eating and stared at me.

"I can't believe you said that", he said. "You're the last person I would have expected to..." he trailed off. I silently kicked myself under the table.

Needless to say, this was the end of our functional friendship. I still go to the Elgin Street Diner though, even sitting in the booth sometimes, reliving the moment, wishing it could be changed.