She knew she was home the minute her knife crunched through the wafery layers of the croissant. The savory taste of the chicken-filling paired with the soft flakes of the bread warmed her stomach, urging her to slouch back in complacency. Yet, the harsh glow of the laptop prevailed. Unfazed by the genteel setting of a quiet cafe, the cursor before her unfinished work blinked at an even pace; a witness to the inertia of a working Saturday.
Cafes usually did not work for her. The coffee would always be off, the small tables would always be cluttered, the air constantly filled with loud chatter. On 10 AM that day though, the first batch of coffee had just scented all nooks and crannies of the place. The doubles tables as well as the booths near the windows were all empty, save for one where a couple sat and discussed their week. The place felt like a warm hug after a hurried morning.
The usual order of things was for her to jam in her earpods and force herself to work until she felt absolved of the guilt of taking a break. This time, she decided a laptop and a smartphone seemed technology enough for the day.
And so, she typed, read, backspaced and rewrote through her copy. The chinks of metal spoons hitting ceramic cups, foaming machines, soft thumps of a wooden cupboard and glib questions from the adjacent tables ("Hi! How far away are you? "Okay, so this happened yesterday..." "Where's the washroom?") washed over her but never distracted her. Even the misfit song of 'Zombies' by The Cranberries playing in the cafe failed to grab her attention for longer than a second. The LED glare of her device received her deserved attention. Even the croissant, as mentioned before, failed to conquer the hustle culture. But there's no denying coffee.
One sip of the orange mocha and the laptop was put to the side, closed but not abandoned. Her shoulders finally slackened as she settled into her chair and looked out the long windows at the sun-kissed trees across the road.
A Saturday afternoon is the perfect time to sit in a cafe.
No comments:
Post a Comment