All the Worlds a setting :: Part 1

Music and laughter resounded from the depths of the pub. Gris couldn't tell. His gaze was inward, everything focused on the battle raging inside, rather than the comradery outside. A hand nudged his shoulder, bringing him back to reality.

"Hey, you listening to me? Gosh, you're always doing that. Zoning out."  Sylvia's voice was slightly mocking, in a friendly jesting way. Gris shook his head a little before taking a sip of his beer.

"Yeah, sorry. Just, what you were saying got me to thinking..."

"First, tell me what I was saying."

Gris gulped, trying to remember all of it. He had the jist, which was no problem, but the specifics...

"Well... You were talking about the border issues, over with Luxembourg, how our people were fighting back, issues in France... It just got me to thinking. We're close the border. What if everything spilled over here?"

Sylvia laughed.

"Good grief! Your paranoid! This is Malborn! Since when has anyone paid any attention to us? We're just a small town. Why would we even matter?"

"I don't know. Just kinda gripped my attention."

Silence fell between the two. The strumming of a guitar in the background was soothing for Gris' uptight nerves. He didn't typically like to get in groups of people, and tonight the pub had been crowded. The light from outside was slowly gaining a red tint, and people began to leave. Laughter faded, the music slowed to a more contemplative tempo, and eventually silence fell.

"Well, I've got to be going. See you tomorrow at work, huh?"

"Yeah, sure thing. Sorry about my being so reserved tonight..."

"No problem. We all have days like that. You just have more."

Sylvia grabbed her coat off the chair and left, punching Gris lightly in the arm as she stood. By now, Gris was almost the only person in the pub, except for the owner and a few other customers, most of which ere finishing their drinks. He didn't like being absorbed in his own head, but he couldn't fight it... All his thoughts went to a single subject and clung to it, as if being separated from it would kill them. War was nothing new, but not for west Germany...

"Hey. We're closing. I hate to interrupt anything important, but I can't lock you in."

"Huh? Oh, right. Sorry."

One gulp was all it took to finish the beer, then Gris left.