Children of Adaygue Book 1: Mad World

Chapter 1: A Beginning And An End (Part 7) | Stuck In A Smile

Gene walked across the square to the building where Café Friedrich was located. As always, he took the corridor that led him through the shelves of the library before it ended a few meters before the transition to the café and the glass wall only allowed him to continue unhindered through the doors provided for it.

From the shelf, you could take a look into the restaurant without being noticed. He casually reached for one of the books without really looking at it. Had he caught her shift?

His glance through the window, as casual as possible, caught her wiping the tables. Resolutely, he closed the book and put "Native Herbs and Their Uses" back on the shelf to enter the café.

She was on her way back to the counter and had fixed her hair when she heard the door and turned in the direction of the door. Gene was struck by her smile and couldn't help but return it.

"Good morning!" she said it before he could even get back to his thoughts. 

"Good morning, miss!" he stepped up to the counter, trying to dig something out of his head to talk about.

"Same as always?" she asked with a knowing smile, and something flicked against his brain box.

"Same as always. Unless you have a recommendation to make the day even better than it already is!" he replied flirtatiously.

Immediately he saw something flash through her eyes that was somewhere between pure anticipation and an "I know exactly what you mean!"

"Oh, but then I'd have to change the coffee. If that's OK?" she replied.

"Go ahead! Make my day!"

She grabbed the tongs and placed two pieces of cake on the cardboard tray. One was a piece of strawberry cake, and the other was something that looked like cream. Gene didn't know exactly what it was, except that it had several layers, with sponge cake in between.

She packed it at a breakneck pace, pouring half a cocoa, cinnamon, walnut syrup, and grated chocolate into the cup before the hot coffee filled the cup. She closed the cup and set it down so that he could lift the cup with his dominant hand and drink it straight away.

"You're attentive as always." Gene commented with a smile, taking his time paying.

"Isn't 'attention' part of appreciation?" Miss Friedrichscafé grinned.

"For me, it's extremely charming. My father always insisted that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, I'm beginning to understand what he means."

"Then," she glanced around the cafe and through the glass door, as if she had seen someone wanting to enter the shop out of the corner of her eye but then hadn't, "I'll charmingly make you an offer you can't refuse."

Gene's heart suddenly started beating fast: he didn't have to go through with the change plan: "I'm curious, let me hear it, miss," he replied with an expectant smile.

"I'll invite you to an extra breakfast if you tell me something about myself that I've revealed to you without words."

Gene could only accept the challenge, because it wasn't as if he hadn't observed her closely. And so he answered accordingly promptly: "You are right-handed, but after you have taught me so much about unconscious actions involving hands, that is no news. But you prefer to perform comfortable, quick and efficient actions. You use the pliers with your left hand with the same precision as your right, so much so that you could be mistaken for ambidextrous. But," Gene leaned forward slightly, "I've never seen you count or spend money with your left hand. Or write with your left hand. If I had to guess, I'd say you can write with your left hand, but it requires more concentration."

Miss Friedrichscafé smiled warmly and reached into the display next to her to put a filled croissant into a bag. She put it on the pile and looked at Gene's confused face. That was not how he had understood it.

"Is something wrong, sir?" asked the miss worriedly.

"Oh, I just realized that I misunderstood you. I thought you would-" he broke off and then smiled, "that was a misunderstanding on my part. You are working. It would be presumptuous to stop you from working."

He saw her look away, embarrassed, and seem to be thinking about something: "Another time." She replied, while her eyes seemed to be fixed on his. "That's six gold marks and 53 pfennigs." She added after some hesitation.

"Oh, this time I have the right amount." He pulled out his wallet.

Say it! – his inner self screamed at him.

Gene took the coins out of the change section of his wallet.

SAY IT! – his inner self shook him.

He put the coins on the bowl. It was stuck in his throat again. 

 Miss Friedrichscafé took the change and he watched her, more in a daze of frustration, as she left him a Pfennig. 

"Have a nice day! Goodbye!" he heard her say and his answer was more a reaction to her warmth than a conscious one. 

 He took his coffee with a feeling of defeat and cake and left the café.