tour de cafe

i'm so bored at work today. the atmosphere here this cold grey friday is so dead that it feels a lot like a morgue, not that i've ever been in a morgue. i decided to go get something to eat to appease my boredom which I know is wrong, wrong, wrong. on my way out the door, i find my banana in my bag and eat it, thereby ruining my appetite and making my quest for food even more wrong. Ah well.

there's this nearby cafe that i love at 6:30 in the morning. linda and I go there as they are just opening. it's empty, they play Aretha Franklin, Al Green and i sit and read my paper in quiet. any time after 7:00 it's packed with students with their laptops. every table occupied. the noise-level is horrendous, like being inside the engine of a 747, not that I've ever been in one of them either. and on top of the general chatter, tap-tap-tapping on laptops, urgent annoying cell-phone calls that simply have to be made in the middle of a noisey cafe, the clatter of cups, saucers, spoons, the management feel the need to have background music. Arrrgh.

I try a new cafe around the corner and because I have only $4.34 on me, limiting my choices greatly, I tell the guy behind me that he can go ahead as I haven't yet made up my mind. Of course he orders a latte which takes the woman behind the counter about 2 hours to make. finally when I think the latte is complete she asks the man if he wants Vanilla. the man doesn't understand what she is asking, so she has to repeat it. Vaneeela? she says. The man still doesn't understand it. I want to jump in and say "she wants to know if you want some frickin vanilla" but I do not. I leave and go around the corner to another cafe.

I like this cafe, because it's always empty and the owners are friendlier than hell "How are you?" the owner who is seated at a table reading the paper greets me. he gets up and goes behind the counter to take my order. there's not a soul in the place, per usual, and I wonder if I am the first customer of the day. "What can i get you?" he asks. A quick glance at the glass case, however, and I know i'm gonna hit the road without making a purchase. i really don't want anything he has to offer, but he has sad green eyes and his wife is seated behind him slicing tomatoes for sandwhiches which probably no one will purchase today. i consider purchasing a chocolate cake disguised as a muffin out of sympathy for his dying business but i do not. i tell him, i'm just looking as if I'm shopping for a new pair of shoes and leave.

I return to work. Linda calls and asks if I want to meet at Saul's Deli. Why yes I do!