Scenes From a Coffee Shop - Episode I

It was nice to back in a coffee shop, sipping cappuccino and yawning, and what better day for it than one beginning well below zero and doing its damnedest to remain there. The windows picked up the steam from the espresso machine which immediately froze, making the cozy shop seem that much warmer and more inviting. The coffee jockey was pleasant enough, if not a bit detached: exactly what one would expect from the hippest of hole-in-the-wall indie beaneries.

I sat quietly, poring over notes I had hastilly scratched down in anticipation of my meeting. I want to impress, for sure, but I don't want to work too hard at it. If brevity is the soul of wit, my work flow is Oscar Wilde.

I positioned myself at a little table by the door, more as a matter of function that form; it was colder there, but I could easily be seen here, and it seemed to be the one place that the diffused January sun wasn't cascading directly into my eyes.

(Editor's Note: this is an older item I wrote almost a year ago, on January 25, 2009.  I had toyed around with writing more in this series, so I thought I'd dust it off.  Also, the coffee shop this was written in, the Speckled Bird Café in Norwood, is no longer in business. Funny how things change... but I digress. Cheers!)