Coffee was percolating on the burners; Ronnie was humming in the kitchen, hovering over the grill as he finished up dinner and began preparations for the next day’s entrees. The sound of buzzers and laughing could be picked up by those with more sensitive hearing wafting from the other side of the Denny’s-esque diner. Nesryn had learned to ignore those sounds finally.
Half of the shades were drawn to offer some semblance of comfort from the blazing sunshine earlier in the day. The rest were either opened entirely or completely shut. Nesryn had been standing just beyond the counter about to grab up one of those coffee pots when her senses began to light up. Something was shaking and for a moment she thought an earthquake had hit them. People gasped, ducked beneath tables, knelt to the ground if they were standing.
Thankfully she had nothing in her hands though she had managed to dodge one of those coffee pots as it shimmied its way from a burner.
That was before the man with the convertible opened the door. The little chime sang to greet him and Nesryn rose slowly from beyond the counter where she’d been standing prior to the boom. Eyes wide caught sight of the large mushroom cloud and the inevitable veil of dust coating the town. Windows were painted with it. They’d become a dust land fairytale in a matter of seconds.
A soft humming noise continued to claw at the recesses of her ears but then it stopped. Not a sound came from within the diner - as if everything had lost its ability to create noise - and then a few soft glass came from beneath tables, or behind doors from those who had hidden or were knocked back.
“Are you okay?” She would call out to the man. That was her first concern - the next one was the obvious wall of dirt they could all see. What the hell happened out there?