Missing Things

a lost connection

"'Coffee Collective'?" Carl whispered to himself as he looked out the office kitchen window at the coffee shop. He hadn't remembered it having a sign. Maybe the sign had just gone up. "'Coffee Collective'. 'Panini Plus'. 'Sandwich Select'." He took a sip of his water. "Alliteration avenue."

He heard someone behind him and turned around to see who it was.

"Hey Mike!" he said. "How're you doing?"

Mike smiled. "Good, good!" He went to the Nespresso machine and made himself a coffee using one of the office pods. "What're you up to staring out the window?"

"I was just noticing that all the restaurants that open across the streets have alliterations in their names. Panini Plus. Sandwich Select. Coffee Collective."

"Everyone likes a good alliteration." Mike took a sip of his coffee. "God this stuff is awful."

"You should bring in your own pods the way everyone else does."

"No, then the bastards win." Mike took another sip of his coffee and grimaced. "But maybe I'm willing to concede defeat."

Carl laughed. "I guess going to the coffee shop across the street is out of the question."

"I don't know," Mike said, coming to stand next to him. "I looked inside once and it looked a bit bourgeois, you know, with all that art on the wall. I didn't think I'd fit in."

"What does it even mean to fit into a coffee shop? You go there and order a coffee. The decor is secondary."

"I don't know. It felt too formal. And the woman at the counter looked like she would judge me."

"She wouldn't. Krista's cool."

"You're on a first name basis with the woman who works there? That's interesting."

"I go there often and we got to talking. She's cool. She's part of an artist collective. That's where all the art's from."

"I knew it was too artsy and bourgeois for me."

"Artsy isn't anything the same as bourgeois. It's kind of the opposite of bourgeois, I think."

"Only the bourgeoisie can afford art. And art as a commodity is bourgeois."

"Oh come on! You don't have to buy the art! They make it and then sell it to pay rent."

Mike made a crooked smile. "Sounds bourgeois to me."

"You're missing out on some good coffee."

"A small price to pay to maintain my Marxist ideals." Mike took a sip of his coffee and groaned. "God this coffee is awfuller than usual today. I think the pods have gone stale."

"You're doing it to yourself at this point."

"Maybe. Anyways, are we still on for lunch at the place where Elena's used to be?"

"Yeah, sure," Carl said, his heart starting to beat fast at the idea of lunch with Brad. "Does that place have a name?"

"I think it's called something like The Millers Cafeteria? Millstone Cafeteria? Mill-something cafeteria."

"That sounds even more bourgeois than commodified art."

Mike laughed. "I have a meeting to get to, but I'm looking forward to lunch. And so is Brad. He's really looking forward to seeing you today."

Carl's heart skipped an entire beat. "Yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing him too."

"Great," Mike said, walking off. "See you at lunch, then."