The Cafe By The Park

By E. A. P. Duffy

It wasn't as if there was no sign that something was going to go wrong that day. Firstly, the weather turned sour almost immediately after I left my house, and I was forced to turn back and fetch an umbrella. This made me almost ten minutes late to my engagement, and if I hadn't been ten minutes behind, I likely wouldn't have witnessed the automobile accident a few blocks into my walk. Three automobiles, piled up in the center of an intersection, steam pouring from their bonnets. Blood spattered on the ground - a nasty sight.

If I hadn't witnessed that, I likely wouldn't have diverted my path through the park. And then, I wouldn't have witnessed a strange scattering of feathers on the path - as though a crow had been attacked, the feathers were spread in a circle. I've always been somewhat fond of crows and ravens, jays and jackdaws, so this occurrence was where I started to be concerned. The immediate conclusion to reach was that there had been something of a corvid massacre in the area. I picked a feather up off the ground, and scanned the trees as my walking slowed. Nothing in the trees. Not a single crow in sight, nor bird of prey. Just feathers, enough to make up half a bird at least. No blood here, either. My brow furrowed, but I stuck the feather in the band of my hat, and continued on.

I seemed intent to ignore any signs the universe may be putting forth.

I continued through the park, past couples having a romantic walk, past old men watching as the city workers repaved a path, with umbrellas propped on their shoulders. One of these old men made a comment about how he would have lain the brick in a different pattern. I rolled my eyes. Old men seemed to know how to do everything better than the professionals who were currently doing it.

So deep in scornful thought towards this man was I that I simply didn't register the soft thud as I passed by, and the cries of alarm - calls for a medic. One of the old men - the one who had spoken or not, I am not sure - had just suffered a heart attack.

The universe seemed to scream to me to turn back. I did not hear. Rather, perhaps I didn't listen.

I was too focused on my objective, and my destination - a cafe, which presently came into view as I left the park behind me. It was fairly new. I had never visited it before, not that that made a difference, as I was still fairly new to the city. One thing I greatly appreciated about the city, however, was it's cafes. Nothing quite helped my mood like sitting alone in the back corner of a room, with my notebook in front of me. Surrounded by people, yet protected from interaction by the rules of polite society.

Yes, how I loved cafes. So, when a rather charming stranger approached me at a bar, asked to set up a date, and inquired as to where I'd like to meet, I suggested my home cafe.

It was he who had changed the plan. He who had suggested this new cafe, saying it was fairly near his apartment, and he'd never tried it before. What a time to try new things, he'd said, with new people. Well, ever since I'd left the countryside, every experience had been a fairly new one. I'd discovered that I actually liked trying new things, quite a bit even. So, I'd said yes.

And here I was, opening the crisply painted red door with it's gold bar handle and sparkling clean windows. The interior of the place was equally as clean, and quite busy. Not noisy at all, the ambient noise was soft and pleasant. Soft music played from a stage in the back where a single young man played clarinet. The counter was manned by one woman, who noticed me when I came in, and gave me a polite smile with closed lips. I smiled back equally politely, and scanned the room for my date.

It didn't take long to find him. Part of why I had agreed to this meeting was because of his appearance. Tall, with a long and gaunt face, dark eyes and dark hair. He looked slightly ghostly, but not inhuman - his eyes sparkled when he smiled, which he did now, when he spotted me. He waved me over to a little table in the middle of the cafe. Not my preferred location in a cafe, I always preferred a back corner facing the door. But, he let me take the seat that still allowed me to at least see the entryway, so I was content. He pulled the chair out for me like a proper gentleman.