Joe and Dianne Through The Looking Glass

Chapter 14 - Finals Week

Alice peered out of the café window wondering if she'd seen the last of any customers today and she could now begin to lock up. It was a Friday evening with only a week and a half until Christmas and in the last half an hour the street had cleared of the heavy throng of people who had been crowding the pavements all day. The decision had been taken to keep the café open late on some days in December to coincide with the late night shopping hours in the high street close by. It seemed to have been a relatively successful strategy with a steady stream of shoppers popping in for a quick take-away coffee or taking the welcome opportunity for a sit down and a well-deserved slice of cake before getting back to their present buying, but now the shops were beginning to close for the night and Alice reasoned anyone with a desperate need for caffeine or sugar would be setting off home rather than visiting a tiny café at 8pm at night.

Standing by the door with the keys in her hand, she paused to take in the scene outside. London could be so grimy and unkempt looking sometimes – like everywhere else in the UK the high streets were suffering and empty shop windows coupled with traffic fumes and carelessly discarded rubbish did not always make for a picturesque scene. Tonight though Alice could almost imagine she was staring out at film set. The street was festooned with tiny twinkling fairy lights hanging in elegant curves between the lampposts and in the clear sky hung a perfect crescent moon. It was a cold night and frost had started to form on the pavements sprinkling them with glitter which sparkled as it caught the gleam of passing headlights. A glamorous Hollywood film star and his leading lady wouldn't have looked at all out of place wandering arm and arm down the street in some romantic blockbuster.

Alice had placed the key in the lock and begun to turn it when a taxi pulled up just outside the door. She paused and glanced up, people taking taxis in London always fascinated her despite her years of living in the city. She felt there was something so decadent about it when the London transport system could get you anywhere and everywhere for a fraction of the price. When the children had been little, a ride in a taxi and had been a rare and precious treat saved only for very special occasions. Famously they had once at Karen's request all squeezed into a black cab and ridden in style to the West End to see CATS for her birthday outing. The taxi ride had been a great success, the children had loved looking out of the windows spotting all the London sights and waving like the Queen but the show had been a disaster. The minute the dancers appeared throughout the audience weaving their way cat like along the rows, stretching on the stairs and unexpectedly turning their strange cat like eyes on members of the public Karen had started to cry. She was terrified and inconsolable and Alice had spent the rest of the show with a heavy seven year old on her lap, her hands jammed over her ears and her face pushed into her shoulder. Karen had remained suspicious and wary of all cats from that moment on, even crossing the street to avoid one if she could. It was a story told over and over again by the family, especially on Karen's birthday and Alice had always felt a little guilty that by all accounts she appeared to have unintentionally gifted her daughter a phobia for her seventh birthday.

The taxi door swung open and Alice gasped in surprise when out climbed the beautiful red head followed by her ever present companion. Not wanting to put them off coming into the café, Alice quickly snatched the key from the door, turned to the refrigerated unit and began needlessly rotating the bottles of juice so that all their labels faced the same way, all the while expecting to hear the ping of the door as it opened behind her. The door remained stubbornly closed and Alice felt a growing disappointment begin to build in her stomach. She inwardly shook her head in despair at herself and how wrapped up she had become in two stranger's lives. To even think anyone would take a taxi to visit a particular tiny café in a backstreet on a dark Friday evening was in itself ludicrous. There were thousands of cafes across London where coffee could be purchased and there was certainly nothing particularly special about this one. I expect they're going out for dinner in one of those fancy restaurants round the corner and the taxi just happened to drop them off here she reasoned.