Lunch at the Gotham Café

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"Lunch at the Gotham Cafe"
Author	Stephen King
Country	USA
Language	English
Genre(s)	Thriller short story
Published in	Six Stories (1st release), Blood and Smoke, Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales
Publication type	Anthology
Publisher	Philtrum Press
Media type	Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Publication date	1997

Lunch at the Gotham Cafe is a short story published in Six Stories by Stephen King. It is also the tenth short story in the collection Everything's Eventual: 14 Dark Tales by Stephen King.

[edit] Plot summary

A man named Steve Davis comes home one day to find a letter from his wife, Diane, coldly stating she has left him and intends to get a divorce. He becomes depressed, especially since Diane's departure prompts him to give up cigarettes, and he begins to suffer nicotine withdrawal. Diane's lawyer, William Humboldt, calls Steve with plans to meet with the two of them for lunch. He decides on the Gotham Cafe and sets a date. Steve's lawyer is unable to attend due to a family crisis.

Before entering the Cafe, Steve impulsively buys an umbrella. Upon entering, he finds that the maître d', eventually revealed to be named Guy, is talking senselessly about a dog. When Steve attempts to seek reconciliation with Diane, things begin to fall apart. Much to Steve's consternation, she regards him with contempt tinged with fear. The maître d' then makes a surprise reappearance, drunkenly insane, chanting "Eeeee!" and stabs Humboldt through the head with a knife. Steve briefly fends off the lunatic with his new umbrella, then drags the helplessly terrified Diane into the kitchen. Guy gives chase, and after giving the cafe's cook a grisly injury, proceeds onward. Diane almost gets Steve killed, but Steve is still able to incapacitate Guy by dousing him with scalding water and whacking him with a metal frying pan.

After finally escaping both the Cafe and Guy, Steve attempts to snap Diane from her state of panic. Diane recoils and rants at him venomously, seeing him as a bully rather than a protector. Steve is filled with incredulous fury that she has irrationally blotted out how his resourceful actions saved both of their lives while she stood by uselessly. Diane's self-empowering harangue is interrupted by a sudden slap across the face. After attempting to hurt him with claims of extramarital lovers, she leaves him for good. As Steve sits on the curb and watches ambulances haul away both the victims and the heavily-restrained Guy, he is left wondering about Guy's private life, and the nature of insanity.