After walking past the glass door she felt out of place. She never came to cafes without her journal, laptop, and a good book. And unlike most people she never met people at cafes.
Today there was no time for her to cozy in the corner booth and get lost into a psychological novel or become inspired by a business strategy book. Today there was only time for business... actual business.
So she had left the laptop and the book she was reading at home. And she picked a less cozy table even though the corner booth was available on arrival. The
barista
made a comment to her about this. She didn't know how to respond so she just gave a smile and a shrug.
Her brother would arrive in a few minutes. He was the type to never show up early... but never too late either. In his arms he would bring his brand new laptop that was about four times faster than her own, and three times as expensive. The two of them were looking into a property advertising a suspiciously low price tag. "Too good to be true?" her brother had said on
WhatsApp
the night before.
She had taken the day off work just so that they could jump on this opportunity. Indeed if it were too good to be true, then they wanted to snag it before anybody else could warn the seller that they were being a sucker and could get double the asking price. Taking a day off work for that was worth it. It would pay their family back in years to come.
The bell rung. She saw her brother walk in. Her tea arrived. Everything was moving so fast.
Hmm - I was trying to understand where the vulnerability was in the post. But reading it, I felt like I was reading about myself. EVERYTHING felt like a day in my life. Cafe, the corner spot in a cafe, the barista knowing my routine, taking a day off to take care of something on my to-do list, my brother, discussing real estate.... this is me. :)
Then I thought, maybe that's your way of showing me how to write fiction in a vulnerable way.
Regardless - I was smiling the whole time reading it.
Ha i didn't reply because this was about vulnerability. I replied because i wrote a flash snippet of fiction inspired by your post itself.
I wrote it trying to cater it to you. I wanted it to feel like it was written for you while also making it something that you felt like you couldve written. If doing that made you feel like i helped you show how to write fiction then i'm very happy for it :)
Then I thought, maybe that's your way of showing me how to write fiction in a vulnerable way.
Regardless - I was smiling the whole time reading it.
I wrote it trying to cater it to you. I wanted it to feel like it was written for you while also making it something that you felt like you couldve written. If doing that made you feel like i helped you show how to write fiction then i'm very happy for it :)