Time Goes By

Time goes by every day around noon, trailing wasted moments behind her when she passes the cafe.  Because every day there are wasted opportunities or missed trains just on the other side of those doors, and Time just lets them happen.  Because it's none of her concern that non one seems to notice her passing.  She tends to walk down the center aisle of the cafe, looking to either side of her at the tables lined up and the people wasting her away playing on cell phones or listening to music that they're not really listening to at all.

And every day, Time leans up against a wall next to the cafe's front counter where a clock hangs over her head, ticking away the minutes that no one really notices.  Every day she stands there, watching people come in and out of the cafe that doubles as a train station, none of them noticing her.  She let out a sigh and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Can I get you something?"

Time watched as a woman gathered up her newspaper and struggled with her briefcase as she heard the announcement that her train would be arriving soon.  The woman's face was lined with care and she looked preoccupied with some other thoughts, probably going through the list of things she would have to do when she got home from wherever she was going.

"Hello, lady, can I get you something?"

Time blinked and shook her head until she felt the tap on her shoulder coming from behind the cafe counter.  When she turned around, she saw that the person behind the counter, a pimply teenaged boy, was looking straight at her expectantly.

"Wait, what?" Time asked, blinking again as if her eyelids could erase the questioning look directed at her.

"I said, can I get you something?" he asked again, this time with a hand gesture that took in the espresso machine behind him and the case of baked goods on the counter.

"I, um, wait, whoa," Time said, holding up a hand connected to a wrist which wore three watches, each set to a different time zone.  "You can see me?"

"Yeah, I can see you, should I not?  Are you like a ghost or something?"

"No, no, I'm not a ghost.  Hardly a ghost, I'm just--just trying to wrap my head around this.  You can really see me?" Time babbled, not something she was used to doing, but stutter she did.

"Yes...like I said, I could not see you if that'd be helpful, all I have to do is close my eyes, really," the boy offered, closing his eyes so they were only slits as if waiting for the go ahead from Time.

"No, that's not necessary, let me just, let me just think, okay?"

"Sure, okay, take your time, ghost lady, I've got customers to take care of."

PROMPT:
Write something based on the phrase "time goes by" or any tense of the verb.

"Time is the longest distance between two places."

- Tennessee Williams