Alan went about his morning routine in peace, showering, shaving and getting dressed. He never had to be at work until 9 and as such, always seemed to be about an hour behind the commute.
As he stepped outside, the lungful of crisp morning air he took in was ruined by a cloud of cigarette smoke. The source was a woman in her thirties with a much older man who looked like her father.
“Suz, do you have to?” He asked her.
“I’ve literally put it off as long as I can.”
“I just wish you’d never picked those things up.”
Suddenly, Alan felt that warmth again. The cigarette the woman held was gone and the smell of it vanished. The two started talking as if the conversation about smoking had never taken place.
Alan blinked in astonishment. He couldn’t have just seen what he thought he had. Could he?
Confused, but still not ready to believe he hadn’t hallucinated the whole thing, he continued on to the coffee shop he went to every morning. As always, he found a short line, and as always, pretty Amy was manning the counter.
A conversation from a nearby table drifted over to him as he waited. It came from three women at a nearby table, all in business attire.
“My boss is such an asshole.” A good looking blonde said, standing up, “If I don’t get back soon, I’ll be hearing about it all day.”
“Yeah. And I need to get the k1ds off to daycare.” Another woman said, this one a haggard looking brunette, “It’s insane how much that costs us.”
“Welcome to the adult world. It sucks!” A plump woman said with a laugh, “I miss the days when we all had nothing to do but have fun and I could drink as many of these as I wanted without worrying about it.”
“Yeah,” the original blonde said, “I wish we were back in college still.”
The warmth again. When Alan turned, he found three pretty, perky young college girls where the three women had been. They were happily chatting about boys and classes. He was certain that two of them looked like the blonde and brunette who’d been there. What on earth was going on?
“Hello? Earth to Alan.” Any said from behind the counter.
Amy was his regular girl; one of those facets of his life that had been constant for years. She had worked in the shop since she’d been in high school back when Alan has first moved into the neighborhood, and was still there 5 years later. She had curly red hair with a pretty face. Although the freckles had worn away from it, she still had the dimples that made her face light up.
“Oh. Hey, sorry.” Alan said, approaching the counter, “Got a bit distracted.”
“It happens. I took the liberty of mixing your usual.” She said.
He fished out the money to pay for it, still lookin over his shoulder at the departing students that he was sure hadn’t been students when he’d entered.
“Uh...thanks.” He said, “Man I am having a weird morning.”
“Wanna y’all about it?” She asked, leaning on the bar. There wasn’t a line behind him, but how was he supposed to explain this.
“No. That’s alright.” He said, thinking out loud as he spoke, “I’ve gotta get to work. But I sure wish I could just skip it..”
“Yeah, and I wish I’d saved enough money to go to college instead of working at this place, but-“
Whatever thought she’d had never got finished. Alan gaped as she popped from existence, replaced by a tired and disgruntled brunette he’d never seen before. His usual order, which had been waiting on the counter, vanished along with Amy.
“You gonna order or what?” The new barista asked.
Alan fled out the door without answering.
“Fuckin weirdo.” The barista muttered.
Tue Apr 09 13:34:23 2019
1 comment Last updated: Tue Apr 9 15:58:01 2019