A Hat, A Love Letter And A Broken mirror

MR KROFT?

MR KROFT?

"Lisa sweety, please serve the people at the counter, Dorothy seems to be busy with the customers at table three," It was one of the busy afternoons at Vel cafe where everybody wanted some of our coffee and treats special, considering it was special Wednesday.

Every Wednesday there was a special, whereby if you buy a certain type of coffee you get another cup free, or a treat such as a muffin on the side. It actually made the the cafe so filled with people, and usually at this day that's when a lot of business companies like to hold up their meetings, liking the fact that u can drink coffee over and over again at a low discount, while they are discussing whatever they will be discussing.

I usually preferred working as the coffee maker or making cupcake fillings, but today wasn't my lucky day. I did almost everything, serving customers, taking bills at the counter, phone calls from people making orders, tiding up tables, it was hectic.

Grandma Vel did some of the work, but since she wasn't as energetic, she just preferred being in the kitchen, baking. It was amazing to know that the cafe was running smoothly after several years of it being there. We had no problems in terms of being broke, in enough staff or even theft.

After a very hectic day, it was time to close down the cafe for the night. I sighed in relief, this meant ill be taking a long bath and having an early sleep. As i was heading to my room, i heard grandma vel call me. I straight by followed the voice that led me to the living room.

"Busy day huh?"
"Indeed," i said this as i sat close to her. She looked like she had a lot to say but didn't know how to spit it out.
"is there anything wrong?"
"oh no everything is fine, I've been thinking though," she said with a smile on her face which always enlightened me.
"Thinking about...?" I asked curiously.
"well sweety, this cafe has been running for a long time and is still using old recipes. I was thinking of introducing new recipes and more variety of coffee to choose from. New recipes that would attract more customers, more like Wednesday special, in this case Wednesday special everyday,".
Here am i, thinking that old people like keeping it simple and old fashioned. definitely not this grandma.

This will mean that I'll always be this exhausted and all her working days will be very much busy. On the bright side it will mean more income. It wasn't at all a bad idea.
"I like the idea, very much, i like the fact that  we will be taking things to the next level. Change is good, especially if changing for the better. So what do you have in mind grandma?"
"I was thinking coffee from around the world. We can have new styles of preparing coffee like espresso. We can add hot water to espresso just to give it a different strength in flavor. Because of that, its name is cafe americano"

She said this as she stood up heading to the kitchen. She started making ordinary espresso and added hot water as she said. I was getting excited by the minute, the way she made the different style of espresso, it was simple and made me think this wouldn't be so hard after all.
"Here, taste this," i took the cup from her hands, and took a quick sip of the coffee. The coffee tasted light yet delicious.
"I love it, it tastes really great," "well I'm glad you do. Now, i will teach you how to make some of the coffee, so that we can introduce them tomorrow. If people like our recipes we continue making more," she said.
I kind of frowned because i was looking forward to an early sleep and a long bath. Nonetheless this was for my grandma and i seriously didn't mind helping her out.

After four hours of practicing some of the styles of making the coffee we will be introducing tomorrow, it was officially over.
I looked at the time and it was 23:05. It sure was a long day.
"Oh my, i didn't realize it was getting very late. Go to bed, tomorrow is another day. And that reminds me, please wake up early tomorrow because i need help in changing the menus at the menu board outside, before we open up for business!" she said out loud while going to her room.
"Okay, good night grandma!" i shouted back, as i also headed my way.

I went straight to the bathroom and took a long bath as i promised. After the bath, i went to my bedroom. It was a small room, with a single sized bed. Close to my bed side, there was a small table with a lamp.
Opposite the bed, there was a desktop with my books on it and couple of novels. I had a closet too across the room.
It was a cosy room and the walls were painted white, and my ceiling was painted purple. I liked being in my room, most probably because that's where i do most of my thinking and the only place i just become the sad Melissa. I didn't want to feel that way, but for some reason i always did.
i switched off the lights as i went to bed, tomorrow was gonna be another long day.

*******
I woke up before the sound of my alarm. I went and took a shower, and after that, wore my work uniform. I went down stairs and saw grandma already baking. What time did she wake up, and how is it possible that she looks very much energetic?
"Morning grandma," i greeted her and gave her a peak on the cheek. "Morning Lisa, ready for today's work?" To be quite honest i wasn't ready at all i felt tired.
" Ready as ill ever be..." i said.
I started off by writing the new menus on the menu board outside.

After a little while, the staff members arrived.
"Hey , you guys are here early. What made you..." i was cut of by Dorothy, " Yeah we received messages that said we should arrive early. So, what was that all about?" I started explaining everything to them. Without anytime to waste, i taught them the coffee recipes we will be introducing today.
They were actually excited like i was.

It was now time to officially open up for business. The customers got fascinated by the 'coffee around the world', and they were very eager to try them out. We got good comments from the customers and how much they loved our variety of coffee. It was great to know that people really loved them. This meant, we can make a whole lot more.

All was moving as planned, and it was indeed a busy day.
"Lisa sweety, live everything you're doing and attend table six please. There is a meeting being held by Mr Kroft and it needs to be attended immediately".
Mr Kroft? I'm sure I've heard that name somewhere. Oh yeah, the well known lawyer around the town! " Yes sweety we all know that, now go," Great, I spoke that out loud.

I quickly went to the table, and indeed there he was, Mr Kroft with other gentlemen. "Good day gentlemen I'm Melisa and welcome to Vel cafe, can I take your order,"
They all seemed busy and it was quiet for a while, until one of them with a bold voice said, "Yeah can we have the specials please, something about the coffee around the world?"
Finally, "Yes sir, we have..." And I went on and on telling him the coffee we had. They all agreed on having coffee latte.
After a couple of minutes, I came back with the coffee, "Here you go five cups of coffee as you requested," They thanked me, and yet still no word from Mr Kroft. Wow, people weren't kidding, he is a very serious guy.

I continued serving other tables, and I kept on checking on table six, "Is everything okay, more coffee," " No thanks, we are okay," said Mr Kroft as he stood up.
The other gentlemen stood up with him and followed up behind him. The gentleman with the bold voice stood up last and left the bill and tip on the table, he thanked me as he left too. He must have been Mr Kroft's friend, because he is the only person who was at ease the whole time other than other guys who acted all jumpy. Anyways, what do I know.

The day went pretty well, and we had made a lot out of it. The staff went behind to change into their casuals, and called it a day. Grandma and I were left tiding up and cleaning the floors. We then went to the kitchen and did the same thing.
"What a day..." Said grandma, "That was a huge tip Mr Kroft and his fellow men left by today,"
"Yes grandma, Mr Kroft is not much of a talker is he?"
"He is a very busy man, when he is working he puts his whole being into it."
"That shouldn't be the reason why he should ignore the people around him."
"I'm sure he does that because he has to, he and his father do the best they can to protect our town. They always find ways of making our town a better place of living. Since our mayor came to power, he has done nothing but disgrace, and you know who stood firm for us, the Krofts."

I took a deep sigh, that was indeed true.
"I hear you grandma, but the guy should at least smile and socialize, to make things easy for some of us who find it hard to do so."
"Oh gracious child!"

We left the kitchen and we said our good nights and I went to my room. A lot of thoughts flashed in my mind. The way Mr Kroft held up the meeting without saying a word, the way the other gentlemen followed him after he stood up, he sure has more authority than I realized. I wonder how it would feel like to have such power, having people count on you.

I dozed off in my thoughts, and eventually fell asleep.