Guilty

When Rita returned from the till, carrying two coffees, her mother
had gone. The cafeteria was empty and only the sound of the
refrigerator unit in the snack machine broke the silence.

However, opposite on the long melamine table where her mother had been
sitting was an old man in a dressing gown, with a saggy grey face, long
whiskers and a large part of his breakfast down his front. He wheezed
with every breath and held onto the table, as if it was a high ledge
and he was on the wrong side of it.

Ignoring him, Rita sat down, stirred her coffee nervously, placed the
dirty teaspoon in the stained saucer and took her first sip.

It was foul, like all hospital coffee, but at least it was warm.
Wincing at the bitterness and sighing heavily between sips, she
followed the coffee rings on the table in front of her with finger and
avoided the old man's stare.

Then, taking sudden heart from the Kit Kat on the table, she placed the
coffee cup back in its saucer and focussed her attentions on removing
the red wrapper. Good old mum.

The old man had gone back to watching her again, but she was long
passed caring. She had had enough of today already and was determined
to enjoy this little luxury - with or without a weird audience.

As she slid her fingers under the red paper, she glimpsed his watery
eyes zig-zagging between her face and her fingers. Opening his mouth as
if to speak, he wheezed and turned towards the wall, before breaking
into a wild, not-altogether-there grin.

Unsettled, Rita looked casually across the cafeteria towards the double
glass doors, as if nothing had happened and went back to unwrapping the
chocolate.

Then throwing the red wrapper on one side, she set about the foil
outer, sliding her nail noisily down one of the grooves, while her
tongue darted back and forth between her teeth.

Shaken from her trance, by the sudden loud glugging of a distant
percolator, Rita snatched a sip of coffee, broke through the foil,
snapped the first finger off the Kit Kat and bit it firmly in
two.

To her horror, the old man's gnarled hand then reached for the second
loose finger and snatching it from the table, pushed it squarely into
his grey, saliva coated mouth. He then proceeded to suck and chew his
quarry until the last of the chocolate had gone, his mouth circling
like an overloaded tumble dryer.

Rita stopped mid crunch almost choking and threw her hands up in the
air.

'You cheeky old sod!&;#8230;what are you doing?' she blurted, eyes
bulging.

The pink, watery eyes opposite just blinked back, while the thin,
mechanical mouth continued to grind.

With the remains of the first stick still between her teeth, Rita
grabbed the remaining two sticks and snapped off another finger. Then
looking straight at the old man she opened her mouth fully, leaned
across the flimsy table and pushed in the whole stick - her eyes fixed
defiantly on his.

The old man just blinked and looked passed her towards the remaining
stick.

Then with surprising speed, he grabbed it, snapped it between his thumb
and his finger and popped it into his still churning mouth.

Rita spat Kit Kat all over the table.

"You cheeky, old bastard, Why don't you get your own!" she mumbled
through a wall of wafer.

The old man just shuffled in his seat and raised himself precariously
onto his pencil-thin arms. Then looking at Rita through watery eyes, he
blinked tiredly and sloped painfully off towards the doorway of the
cafeteria - all without saying a word.

Seething, Rita finished chewing, screwed the Kit Kat wrapper into an
angry ball and threw it in his direction, watching the silver ball fall
woefully short onto the polished floor&;#8230;

Seconds later, the double doors closed behind him and then just as
quickly opened again, to reveal Rita's mother pawing her mobile.

"Rita love, what's up? You look awful&;#8230;" she sang,
clip-clopping across the polished tiles in her towering heels.

"Hi Mum&;#8230;oh you won't believe it, it's nothing really, but,
that old swine in the dressing gown&;#8230;" she snarled pointing at
the doors of the cafeteria, "ate the Kit Kat you bought&;#8230;I
couldn't believe it, I mean it wasn't as if he&;#8230;"

"My Kit Kat?"

"Yes, the one you bought before&;#8230;."

Rita's mother blinked behind thick glasses, opened the pear-shaped bag
in her hands and reached into it.

"But that's here love&;#8230;" she chirped pulling out a full Kit
Kat.

"I took it with me when I went to ring Adam.

That one, must have been his."