The Gravity Café by Peggy Gerber

On the way home from hospital, Erica stops off to buy a treat for her terminally ill daughter Amelia - and everything changes.

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The blinking, neon lights of the Gravity Café startled Erica out of her trance and drew her in like a magnet. She pulled her car into the driveway and read the small placard underneath the glowing sign; "There is nothing a great cup of coffee can't solve." Erica snorted at that ridiculous statement and almost turned away, but she really needed a cup of coffee and suspected her seven-year-old daughter Amelia might like to stretch her legs. She called into the backseat, "Hey, sweetie pie, how would you like a yummy snack?"

"Okay, Mom," Amelia said in a small voice. She was a month into her treatment for a medulloblastoma and was feeling tired. The long car rides to the hospital and the terrifying treatments were wearing the tiny child down. Though she didn't have much of an appetite, she pretended to be excited about a treat in the hope it would make her mom feel a bit less sad. Before she got sick, Amelia had never seen her mother cry, and now she was crying all the time.

Erica stepped out of the car and scratched her head in confusion. She had passed by this area at least a dozen times over the last few weeks and had never noticed the café before. I don't get it, she thought. Those lights are practically blinding. Shaking her head, she took Amelia's hand and helped her out of the car.

As she opened the café door, Erica's mouth began to water. The coffee smelled amazing and the buttery cakes baking in the oven caused her stomach to grumble. She often forgot to eat these days and only now realized how hungry she was. Erica glanced down at her daughter and saw her smiling for the first time in a long while. She squeezed Amelia's hand and told her she could pick out anything she wanted.

When they approached the counter, a middle-aged woman wearing a peace sign necklace, looking like she had just stepped out of a 1960s movie, smiled and asked, "How can I help you?" She looked down at the sickly child and gave Erica a sympathetic look.

Erica half-smiled back and ordered a large coffee, a banana, nut muffin, and the giant black and white cookie Amelia was pointing to. Too much in her head to return any of the server's small talk, Erica paid for the items and turned to leave. When she approached the exit though, instead of opening the door she swiveled around and said, "By the way, I think you should take down the sign on your window. A cup of coffee can't solve your problems. It can't solve anything. I think it's kind of condescending."

The server came out from behind the counter and put her hand on Erica's shoulder, "You're right" she said and handed Erica a card with her name and phone number on it. "I can see you have some serious problems going on and I'd like to help. Call me when you're ready."

Erica glanced down at the card with a puzzled look. How pretentious, she thought. With glaring eyes she noted the woman's name was Clarissa Jones and that her phone number had a country code she didn't recognize. She grabbed her daughter's hand and shot Clarissa a look of contempt as she barked, "When the day comes that waitresses can cure malignant brain tumors, then I'll call you."

It was very unlike Erica to be so rude, and her eyes dropped to the ground as those harsh words filled her with shame. She turned to Clarissa and mumbled, "I'm so sorry. I don't know what's wrong with me lately."

"It's cool," Clarissa said kindly. I know what it's like to have a sick child."

As they walked to the car, Erica mindlessly scarfed down her muffin, trying to hold it together. She buckled Amelia into her seat and climbed into the front. As she placed her coffee in the cup holder, she glanced at the clock and did a double take. That's weird, she thought. It was five o'clock in the afternoon when we pulled into the parking lot and now the clock says seven. Erica looked up and was flabbergasted to see the sun rising rather than setting.

She drove the rest of the way home in a confused daze and parked the car in her usual spot in front of the house. As she turned off the engine, her husband Cole came running towards her gesticulating wildly. His face was red and he was screaming. "Where the hell have you been for the past three days, I've looked everywhere for you. I called all your friends, your family, and every hospital within a hundred-mile radius. The police are out looking for you. I thought you and Amelia were dead." Tears glistened in his eyes as he continued his rant, "Adam and I have been going crazy. He hasn't stopped crying for three days."

"Three days," Erica exclaimed. "Three days. What are you talking about?" She pulled out her phone to prove Cole wrong and began gasping for air. "How's this possible?" She then raced into her ten-year old son's bedroom frantically calling his name. She found him underneath the blankets sniffling and wrapped him in a bear hug. They stayed like that for a long while as she tried to comprehend what was happening to her.

After consoling her son, Erica excused herself and ran into the bathroom. She pulled out the card from Clarissa and quickly punched the numbers into her phone. The second she heard Clarissa's voice, she yelled, "What in God's name did you do to me? How long was I in your café? Did you drug me?"

"First of all, said Clarissa, "I'll need you to calm down so that you can hear what I have to say. Take your time, I can wait."

Erica tried taking a few slow breaths and though her heart was pounding practically out of her chest, told Clarissa she was ready.

"Erica, this is going to be hard to understand, in fact it might even sound unbelievable, so I need you to hear it with an open mind. Listen closely. Time passes differently in the Gravity Café. One day in the café equals approximately one year on the outside. I'm sure you noticed that in the five minutes you spent in the café, approximately three and a half days passed outside."

Erica was speechless as she attempted to process what Clarissa was saying. Her face was a mask of confusion and her left eye was beginning to twitch. She was on her last nerve and all she could think about was that her precious daughter had a limited amount of time on this earth and she couldn't afford to lose a single second of it. Feeling like her brain was ready to explode she yelled, "My daughter is sick. Give us back those three days."

"Erica," explained Clarissa calmly, "you and Amelia didn't lose any time. The two of you only aged the five minutes that you were in the café."

Erica's breathing came under control as her confusion melted into relief. She took a few deep breaths as she waited to near more.

Clarissa spent the next few minutes explaining how the Gravity Café sat on a portal to the middle of the earth, making it a place where gravity is much higher than on the surface, and that as gravity increases, time compresses.

"What? What are you talking about? Is this like Einstein or something?"

"It's exactly like Einstein. It's his theory of relativity. Time is relative and I'm inviting you and Amelia to spend some time in The Gravity Café."

"That doesn't make any sense. Don't your bones crush or something when you're in high gravity? My son did a science fair project on the planets recently and I'm sure that's what he said.

"Normally, it does," responded Clarissa, "but the Gravity Café protects your body from harm."

As Erica wrestled with this information, Cole began banging on the bathroom door. Still very agitated and upset, he began yelling at Erica to get the hell out of the bathroom and explain to him what happened.

Erica quickly hung up the phone and made a mental note to call again in a few days.

As she opened the bathroom door, Cole grabbed her by the wrist and pulled her out. "I don't understand what's going on. I don't know whether to hug you or kick you in the shins," he said.

"Hug me."

"I don't know whether to feel furious or relieved."

"Relieved."

Cole embraced his wife and gently kicked her in the shins. "Promise me you will never disappear like that again. You have no idea how scared I was."

When her husband finally let her go, Erica went to the kitchen to prepare a meal for her family. Amelia was napping on the couch and Erica needed something to do with her hands. Still feeling bloated from the large muffin she enjoyed less than an hour ago, she began preparing Cole's favorite breakfast of chocolate chip waffles with whipped cream and syrup. It was his comfort food and Erica hoped it would relax him enough to calm down.

As she stirred the batter, Cole stood in the corner and watched her like a hawk. When the food was ready, she, Adam, and Cole sat down at the kitchen table to talk about what had happened. Though she tried to explain things as best she could, most of what came out of her mouth was ums, and uhs and grunts. The only part of the conversation she could accurately remember was that time passes differently in the Gravity Café.

Cole sat and stared at her in disbelief, as Adam became energized. He loved science and asked question after question as his father got angrier and more frustrated. "Unbelievable," Cole said as he stomped away from the table.

"Cole," said, Erica, "check the mileage on the car. It is exactly the same as every other trip to the hospital. Check the credit card. There is not a single charge on it. Check our bank balance. There is not a single withdrawal from our account. Check my phone. There are no weird messages or emails. How could I be lying when I didn't spend any money, didn't make any calls and didn't go anywhere?"

With all the yelling going on in the house, Amelia woke up from her nap.

Cole ran to his daughter and sat her on his lap. "Honey, he asked, "where did you and Mommy go?"

"We went to the hospital and then Mommy bought me a giant black and white cookie, but I saved most of it for Adam."

"Are you sure you didn't go anywhere else?"

"No, Daddy."

Though Cole could tell his daughter wasn't lying, he did exactly what Erica suggested. He ran outside and checked the mileage in the car. He checked their bank account balance as well as all charges on their mutual credit card. He then went to Erica's wallet to make sure she hadn't opened up a secret credit card. And he read every text message and email from the last seven days.

When he couldn't find any evidence of her lying, Cole went to the closet and retrieved four jackets. He handed one to Erica and said, "I need a cup of coffee. We're going to the Gravity Café."

"But it's twelve miles away and I'm exhausted," Erica protested. When she saw her husband glaring at her, she got into the car without another word.

Cole sat in the backseat with Amelia, and Adam sat up front with his mother. He peppered her with a million questions, most of which she couldn't answer, and his curiosity helped dampen the trauma of the past three days.

When they pulled into the parking lot of the café, Erica's mouth dropped open. She was staring at an old, abandoned building. "I-I-I don't understand," she stammered. The café was open last night or this morning or whenever it was. I swear. Wasn't it sweetie?

"Yes, Mommy."

Adam got out of the car and began circling the old, abandoned café, as his father stood by and held Amelia's hand. Adam wanted to believe his mother, but he also wanted proof. On a whim, he picked up a rock and threw it through the old, muddy window. When he looked inside, all he could see were cobwebs and dust. He stuck his hand through the broken glass and immediately jumped backwards.

"Adam," Erica yelled. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Mom," Adam exclaimed, "something just bit me."

Erica checked her son's hand and found a fresh bite mark on his thumb. She grabbed her son by the collar and pushed him back into the car. She loaded the other two family members and took off.

"Where's the café Erica?" Cole demanded.

"It was there, I swear it was there."

"It was there, Daddy," piped in Amelia. "Look, here's the rest of my cookie." Amelia picked up the bag with the black and white cookie, which was still fresh, and offered it to her brother.

When Adam reached back to retrieve it, he looked at his father and said, "Hey Dad, the bag says Gravity Café on it. The address is right where we were."

Over the next few days, life returned to as normal as it could be when there is a sick child in the house, and their routines were restored. And then the worst happened. Amelia had a seizure.

When they got the results of Amelia's new MRI, the family learned the prognosis was worse than they thought. The treatments weren't working and Amelia's tumor was progressing. The entire family was in tatters and Erica was on the verge of tears twenty-four hours a day. She walked around her house like a zombie trying her best not pass on her sadness to her daughter.

A couple of days after the incident, Erica opened her wallet and spotted the card from Clarissa. Her first instinct was to rip it into a million pieces, but then she thought about her lost three lost days, and knew she couldn't pass up this opportunity no matter how crazy. In desperation, she picked up the phone and punched in Clarissa's number.

When she answered the call, Clarissa didn't say hello. She asked, "Are you ready."

"Yes, yes, I'm ready," sobbed Erica. "I'll do anything you ask, please just help us."

"Groovy," said Clarissa. Here's what you'll need to do. Come to the café and stay for a month. Thirty years will have passed and there might be a cure for Amelia's type of illness."

"Of course. I'll call my husband right away and we'll be there in a few hours."

"No, Erica. Just you and Amelia. It's not a hotel, it's a refuge for sick people. That's why we put a simulation filter on the café. We don't want just anybody walking in. And by the way, I didn't appreciate your son breaking the café window. That was very rude."

Erica began to sputter nonsensically before blurting out. "What are you saying? Are you asking me to choose between my two children?"

"I would never do that. I'm giving you the opportunity to choose both."

"Well, if we come, can you guarantee there will be a cure for Amelia in thirty years?"

"No."

"Will Adam be okay without me? "

"I don't know, Erica. The only thing I can guarantee is that thirty years will have passed and this is Amelia's best chance."

Erica stayed awake the whole night thinking of only one thing. "I have to save my daughter, and by the morning, her decision had solidified. After Adam left for school and Cole went to work, she packed two suitcases with enough clothes and medicines to last a month.

She put a note on Adam's pillow letting him know how much she loved him, and how he was the best thing to have ever happened to her. She pleaded for his forgiveness and swore she would one day see him again.

The note for Cole was a little different. It had instructions where to pick up the car, what to say to her parents and how to care for Adam in his time of grief. She begged him to understand. She had to save Amelia.

When Erica arrived at the café, the neon, blinking lights were brighter than ever. She knew they would be. She helped Amelia out of the car and popped open the trunk. She then pulled out two suitcases and six cartons of food. When the trunk was empty, Erica took a deep breath and opened the café door.

Clarissa welcomed in her two new roommates and escorted them to a small bedroom at the back of the café. For the next month, Erica spent her days taking care of Amelia and helping Clarissa in the kitchen. Over time she learned how Clarissa entered the café when her own daughter Angela was suffering from heart failure. How they spent twenty-five days there and when they emerged, heart transplants were routine. How Angela received the surgery and had an additional ten happy years. After her passing, Clarissa came back to the café as caretaker.

Though inspired by Clarissa's story, Erica was also saddened. She didn't want ten happy years with Amelia, she wanted sixty, and so at the end of every day she went to bed with a heart as heavy as a boulder. As she lay in bed each night struggling to fall asleep, she could swear she heard Cole and Adam calling her name. Every morning she woke up thinking about how Adam was one year older. She prayed every day that Cole would keep it together and be a good father to Adam.

As the days passed, Amelia became weaker and more symptomatic. Her balance was getting worse and she was developing tunnel vision. Erica was in a panic every minute of the day and was rapidly losing weight. Even Clarissa's baked goods were too difficult for her to choke down. On the twenty-ninth day after their arrival, Amelia had another seizure. Clarissa dialed 911 and Erica exited the café cradling her daughter in her arms.

When the driverless ambulance arrived, two paramedics jumped out and placed Amelia on a stretcher. They took her vitals and raced to the hospital emergency room, where Amelia was hooked up to an IV with fluids and medication. When the attending physician walked in, he took one look at Amelia and knew exactly what was wrong. He pulled out his phone, called the neurosurgeon and told him to come stat.

"You're very lucky," said the MRI technician as she waved an imaging wand around Amelia's head, "The pediatric neurosurgeon on call is the best of the best. He treats his patients like family."

While waiting for the doctor to arrive, a bot rolled in and asked for Amelia's community health card.

Erica raised her eyebrows. Her what?

The bot explained that it was the Medicare for All card, and just the number would suffice.

Erica didn't have a clue what to say so she blurted out her own social security number.

"Great," said the bot. "You are in our jurisdiction."

A few minutes later the pediatric neurosurgeon strolled in and said, "Good morning, I'm Dr. -"

But before he could finish his sentence he froze like a rock. When he was finally able to move again, he backed up against the wall and slowly slid to the ground. Tears burned his eyes as he whispered, "Mom. Amelia."

"Adam," cried Erica. Is that really you?" Though stunned by his appearance, she lived for only one purpose right now. She looked at her son and commanded, "Adam, save your sister. Save your sister right now."

Adam sprang into action. He examined Amelia's MRI, and called for the pediatric anesthesiologist as well as an operating room. He briefly explained to his mother that the tumor was pressing on Amelia's optic nerve and she needed surgery to remove the pressure. He then took his sister's hand and squeezed it gently as he helped wheel her stretcher out of the room. With his eyes still wide open in shock, Adam looked back at his mother and yelled out, "We have treatments now. I can save her."

When the procedure was over, and Amelia was dozing in the recovery room, Adam went to talk to his mother. His head was spinning, and tears were streaming down his face as he approached her in the waiting room. "Amelia's going to be okay. I removed a chunk of the tumor and we'll dissolve the rest of it with a series of targeted immune therapy treatments." He took a breath as he stared into his mother's eyes. Suddenly, all the years of grief washed over him and he began to sob. When his mother opened her arms, he fell into them and stayed there for a very long time.

"Daddy never remarried," he said, when he began to recover. He's still in the same house. He's still waiting for you. Every year on the anniversary of your disappearance, the two of us would go to the place of the café and call your name and ask you to come home." Adam reached into his mother's sweater pocket and pulled out the tissues he knew would be there. He blew his nose and sniffled, "Daddy's retired now and spends a lot of time with his grandchildren."

"Adam, you're a father?"

"Yeah. I have twin daughters, seven years old. Same age as Amelia, I guess. Weird, right?" He shook his head, "we named them Laura and Allison, after my two grandmas."

"Oh no! Did my mother pass?"

"Sorry, Mom. She died right before the girls were born. She moved in with me and Dad after you left. She missed you so much."

Erica stored that information in the back of her mind. She was not in a place to process any more grief. She then took her beloved son's face in her hands and smiled, "Call Daddy. Tell him Amelia's waiting for him and that we'll be home soon."