Many Mini-Adventures

Tea One and Only

To little Miss Vivian Bonapart, the most luxurious thing in the world by far was...tea. The epitome of greatness. The upper echelon of proper taste. Tea is what one must consume to truly live.

And oh, there were so many to choose from, one could not simply have just a single favorite. Black, Green, White, Oolong, and Herbal tea all had their contenders for her heart. And one particular cafe she was told sold them all. So, she decided to judge the place for herself.

~~

The sign, Tea One & Only Cafe, swung back and forth in the soft breeze over the door. The sign looked the part with a form of a teacup with steam carved upon its surface. The front door was propped open, so it didn't take long for her nostrils to consume the herbal fragrance of the place.

The checkerboard tiled flooring and the fine wooden tables and chairs embedded in her mind a very calm and relaxing locale that had won the hearts of many cafe enthusiasts. Not that she knew that for sure, but the appearance did seem welcoming enough to draw a crowd. But, being in the early afternoon on a Tuesday, it wasn't surprising that only a few people were present.

Vivian went to the counter and noticed several staff members were in the back kitchen area through the serving window. Upon looking at the counter, a silver service bell was in front of her, waiting to be tapped. She motioned her hand above the bell, but within seconds, a server appeared right before her. She yelped and jumped back. The server raised his eyebrows and hands in an attempt for peace.

"I'm so sorry ma'am!" the server said. "I didn't mean to scare you. I was just cleaning under the counter."

Vivian sighed. "It's fine. Just didn't expect a jumpscare today."

"Well, I'm sure most people don't." The server smiled before grabbing a menu from the counter. "Have you had a chance to look at our menu?" He positioned it in front of her.

She grabbed the menu and shook her head. "No, I haven't. Thank you, um." She looked at his name plate on his shirt. "Thomas. I heard you sell every kind of tea imaginable."

He let out a small laugh. "Oh you heard that, have you? Well, we do try to sell a lot of them. We pride ourselves on our variety, but I doubt a cafe of our size could manage every tea ever made."

She shrugged. She was mature enough to know rumors can't be taken seriously unless you can confirm it from the source. She opened the menu and scanned it fairly quickly. Her eyes darted from left to right in seconds. Thomas, noticing this, pulled out a pen and pad of paper.

He wrote a bit and looked up at her. "So, do you need a minute to decide or are you ready to order?"

Vivian looked up, gave a small smirk. She then looked at the pad of paper he was holding. "Sir, you'll need either larger paper or a thicker pad."

He nodded. "Um, I'll manage with the pad."

She tilted her head with a genuine smile. She was beyond excited for his reaction. "Don't say I didn't warn you." She cleared her throat. "So, out of the menu, I'd like to have the entire left half of it."

"The entire...? Ma'am, that's about 40 different cups of tea."

She nodded. "I'm aware." She then looked around and spotted a large table and several chairs in a corner. She pointed in the direction of that table. "I'll be over there, if that's okay. I think it would be big enough for them all, right?"

Thomas looked in the direction she pointed and squinted. It seemed like he was calculating in his head if the table would support that many cups. He looked back at her. "Yes, I guess that would be." He then took the menu from her and made adjustments on the tablet cash register as he looked back and forth from the menu to the tablet.