waywordcafe

[waywordcafe]

The Customer with the Yellow Flower

The air carried with it the scent of a rain just past when the café door opened, the tinkling of the bell alerting Sage to head to the register. As she turned to face the new arrival, already starting to greet them, she stopped short, noticing that there was no one there that she could see. A giggle prompted her to look down at the counter, where a single yellow flower lay with a shining silver dollar coin and a note that - if one squinted and really tried to read it - said "hot cocoa". Leaning further over the counter, Sage could see the softly curling brown hair of a child, obviously trying to hide herself from the adults in the space.

"I could really go for a banana muffin Mo, would you mind warming one up for me?" Sage called, being as subtly obvious as she could by speaking much louder and slower than was generally needed.

She heard the quick intake of breath from the child, and a faint growling noise that she took to be an empty stomach. As Mo heated up the muffin, Sage quickly made a hot cocoa in a travel cup with plenty of whipped cream and a sprinkle of cinnamon. Silently taking the muffin from Mo, she snuck around to the front of the counter, managing to evade detection from the child.

Setting down the cup and the wrapped muffin, along with the silver dollar coin, Sage whispered next to the girl.

"The flower was payment enough-"

Before she could finish speaking what was going to be an invitation to the poor girl in what she could now see was a ragged red jacket, the child started, grabbing the refreshments and bolting out the door as silently as she came in.

Sage smiled, watching the girl flee, but her eyes showed a sorrow that comes with having seen far too much of the world' and what it could do to a poor young girl's sorrows in the form of hungry children. As a small book showed itself on the counter, for the first time in a long time Sage picked up a pen hidden in a locked drawer and wrote a note in the margin of the largely blank book.

"The café will always give the girl food for flowers, and she will be safe from hunger and harm, should she return."

Setting the book on a shelf behind the counter, Sage gave Mo a glance and they both willed the café to show itself to the child again soon.

The café listened to its caretakers pleas, and a gentle creak from the bookshelves told them that the Wayword Café would see the girl again, when the time was right.

[waywordcafe]

Make it a Double

Sage stood with her back to the counter, working on a hazelnut latte for a customer when she felt a slight breeze at her back, alerting her to a new customer walking in. She glanced across the counter at the new arrival, nodding at the young gentleman and then at her colleague Mo.

"Thank you for wandering in young lad! Mo will be right with you while I finish up this order."

A muttered acknowledgement left the man's lips, too quiet to make out any words but clearly expressing that he was in no rush.

Sage finished the latte, quietly walking it over to where another young man with longer dark hair sat, staring out the window at nothing at all. Setting it down as soft as possible, not to disturb his reverie, Sage glanced at something on the man's hand that only she could see and gave a soft chuckle before returning to her station.

Mo, having finished taking the new customer's order, gave the ticket to Sage to work on the drink while she got busy heating up a slice of coffee cake. At the sound of a throat clearing, Sage and Mo shared a look as Sage held the cup for the current drink with 4 fingers, her pink just barely extended. Mo quickly turned back to her own work, readying a second slice of the coffee cake, almost as if having forgotten about the first already.

Sage finished the caramel macchiato and walked it over to the new customer, who sat on the opposite of the café with his head down, staring at a blank sketchbook. Each step that Sage took toward him increased the speed with which his pencil tapped on the top of the sketchbook, belying his frustration with the emptiness of the page in front of him. This time, when Sage set the cup down she made sure to do so with just enough force to snap him out of his spiral, but not enough to spill any of the coffee.

"You'll put a dent in that sketchbook if you keep beating it like that darlin'. Rather then looking at an empty page, why don't you take some inspiration from something around you. Even if it ain't something you like, drawing something at all might get those juices flowing." Sage delivered the lecture with a hand on her hip, standing just to the side of the table and using her other hand the gesture around the shop. "I decorated this place myself, there is plenty to see. Mo will be by with your desserts shortly."

If the man was confused by the use of a plural when he surely only ordered one dessert, he wrote it off as the barista's own confusion as she did not take his order directly. He sighed, setting the sketchbook and pencil down to pick up the mug, taking a small sip at first. Immediately, the smooth, sweet flavor of the caramel lifted a small amount of fog from both his brain and his eyes, and he looked around the café anew to find something - anything - to inspire him even a little.

A passing car outside threw a glare of light directly into his eyes, and he instinctually glared in the direction of the window that so rudely allowed such a transgression to occur. The window just so happened to be occupied by a daydreamer, oblivious to the glare that was briefly directed at him.

The artist looked away, hoping that the man in the window truly did not notice his glare. At that moment, Mo came by with two gently steaming plates of coffee cake. Now, he really was confused.

"...I only ordered one slice..." He muttered, not wanting to be rude but definitely not wanting the stomachache that would come with eating both on an empty stomach.

Mo raised her eyebrows in surprise. "Oh my Word you did didn't you? I am so sorry love, what would you like done with the extra? I can put it in a box if you like?" She asked, voice as rich as the coffee in his cup.

He thought about asking for it boxed, but he knew twice heated it would not taste the same as fresh. Glancing up at Mo, another glare of light hit his eyes and he glanced back at the window.

"Let someone else have it. I don't like waste. It's best fresh anyway."

He delivered the words shortly, not wanting to talk any more than he had to. Surely there were multiple customers it could be passed off to. He looked around the café, belatedly realizing that he and the daydreamer were the only two occupying the café at this time. Oh well.

-

Later, as the daydreamer finished his coffee and "complimentary" cake, he hastily typed something down on his abandoned laptop sitting next to him. Finishing his thought, he packed his things up into his backpack, tossing a wave at Sage and Mo and jogged out the door.

Sage glanced at the shelves, but no new book appeared. She nodded, having expected this, and went back to her tasks.

-

The artist came out of a daze, mug and plate both empty but the page in front of him full. He had sketched the offensive window, surrounded by draping plants and shining beautiful rays of light - beautiful when not going directly into ones eyes that is. The window seat on the page sat empty, and it almost made the page feel incomplete somehow. He walked up to the counter, handing the page to Mo after carefully removing it from the book. He said no words. simply nodding and walking out.

-

A new book appeared in the Wayword Cafe, this one open and on the counter, rather than on the shelves. Mo slid the drawing into the open pages and set it aside to be looked at again another day.

[waywordcafe]

The Customer with the Auburn Hair

The customer in front of Sage kept checking her phone - anxiously, desperately waiting for a notification to light up her screen.

The rain from outside drummed a steady beat on the pavement, having started shortly before the young lady in front of me made it to the safety of the awning. The observant barista could see the marks it left on her shirt, but the droplets remaining on her face could almost be mistaken for tears.

She glanced around the menu, seeming overwhelmed by the options in combination with her ever-growing anxiety.

"Might I make a suggestion?" Sage said, with her soothing voice. Not like honey, but more like warm milk and cinnamon on a cold, lonely night.

"For a rainy day like today, a tea always does nicely. I recommend our chamomile lemon herbal tea blend. It will warm you right up from the inside out."

The customer nodded, relieved - albeit only slightly - to be saved from having to choose on her own.

She turned to find a seat in the empty café and noticed the fire burning in the hearth. Strange, was that lit when she walked in? The question faded from her mind as she neared it, sitting on one of the couches nearby. The warmth from the hearth felt comforting. Not like a hug, all enveloping - more like an arm across the shoulder by a dear friend, simply sitting with you while giving you the space to just be.

The customer with the auburn hair turned her gaze from the flames to see a mug gently billowing steam in front of her. She had been so enraptured by the flickering fire that she hadn't even noticed Sage bring her drink by. The scent seemed to instantly ease some of her anxieties, however she still kept her phone in sight.

After half the cup is gone, the phone lights up. She grabbed her phone up immediately, seeing a call pop up with a name she had been yearning to see.

Sage discreetly washed glasses at the counter, throwing glances at the customer with the auburn hair as her posture loosens, as tension leaves her shoulders. And then, as her shoulder begin to shake. Sage could tell it was not from sadness that she cried, but instead from relief. The details of the conversation were not Sage's to know, but she threw a glance to her patisserie Mo, who discreetly warmed a croissant and snuck it to the girl's table as she spoke fervently with whoever was on the other line.

"I am so glad you called. I never thought I would hear from you again. I missed you."

Once her call finished, the customer with the auburn hair finished her cup and her croissant. Wiping her face free of what was surely just leftover rain droplets from her trek outside, she turned to the kind barista and patisserie, bashful at having been so emotional in their shop.

"Thank you for your kindness. I am sorry-"

"No apologies for emotions darling. Your story will be held here, but with the utmost discretion. No one will know your name, but your emotions and this page of your journey deserve their place on our shelves." Sage comforted her, gesturing to the shelves filling the walls of the shop.

With a nod, the customer with the auburn hair smiled and left the shop. She hoped one day she would return, but to be honest she was not sure how she got there in the first place. Upon looking the café up later, she found that while she remembered the name, she could not find it anywhere online.

Inside the Wayword café, another book appeared on the shelves.