Out of All Them Bright Stars

A short story by Nancy Kress (purchased electronically via Fictionwise.com). Kress is a new author for me; all I really knew about her is that she had been married to the late Charles Sheffield.

A fairly humanoid alien shows up at a diner and orders a plain salad. The story is a study in the reactions of the several people at the diner and told from the viewpoint of one of the waitresses. The reactions depicted are probably a lot more realistic than that (for example) depicted in Larry Niven's The Fourth Profession.

Counts as one (1) entry in the 2006 Short Story Project.