Coffee Shop

Friday Morning

Before Jake arrived at the coffee shop that afternoon, Evy had spent most of her day laboring over thoughts and words.

There's so much on her mind lately, that she's sure she could fill a book, but somehow, it's too difficult for her to form the right words to express those feelings. She figures she should probably do some useful list making and planning instead of emotionally blabbering on paper about the confused feelings inside that she can't even organize in her mind, let alone in any literary form.

She settles on beginning a list of what needs to be packed and what can be sold or given away. She and her husband, David, are moving to California in a month and instead of paying to rent a larger moving van, they have decided to sell almost everything they have.

It should save some money and hopefully raise a little cash to help with rent out there until they get settled in some good jobs. Their plan is to have a wine and cheese party at their apartment with some good food and good music. At the party, they want to have their belongings numbered and listed on various silent auction sheets strategically placed throughout the apartment. Each item will have a bright colored tag, with a number written on it artfully, corresponding to its number on the auction sheet. The highest bidder gets the item, whether it's a book, a bed, a dish or a picture frame. Their hope is that they raise enough to at least get them through their first month in LA.

It's Evy's idea and David has let her take over the majority of the planning on her own. It gives her a fun project to do instead of worrying about the move itself. Hopefully people will enjoy some wine at the party and also buy some furniture, books and knickknacks. It will make Evy feel better to know that her things are going to people she knows rather than just strangers, so she doesn't plan on making the prices too high.

She'd rather people just have a good time at another one of her summer parties than spend a lot of money on her belongings. This has been a summer of parties at Evy and David's. It started with a party every week, but at this point they're having some sort of gathering at their house every night. Neither of them are working regular hours and they want to enjoy their last few weeks in Texas.

She thinks back to last week when Evy and David were supposed to have thrown a fun costume party. They bought a few bags full of crazy hats and other accessories at a party supply store for people who might have forgotten the theme and to help others with less than creative costumes. They had all the wine and beer prepared and the snacks displayed just right on the table, when a huge hail storm hit.

Out of nowhere it seemed, a huge black cloud covered the sky and it gushed rain. The hail started out pea sized but soon got to be close to the size of grapefruits. Evy and David watched as huge pieces of ice were thrown from the sky into their glass sliding door. They could hear other people's windows breaking in the nearby apartments as they ran to the central bathroom to shield themselves from any glass that might fly at them if their windows were broken. Towards the end of the storm they heard the glass in the study break and David ran into the room with a towel to try to plug up the hole and hopefully save the computer that they had foolishly forgotten to move from in front of the window.

The hail stopped falling almost as suddenly as it had begun and the sky was an eerie color of gray in the twilight after the storm. Evy and David went outside to see the damage. Glass was everywhere and Evy's mind went immediately to the thought of what a pain it was going to be to clean it all up. It was almost like a scene after a bombing in a movie, with the doors to the apartments slowly opening one by one, and the tenants hesitantly sticking their heads out, slowly emerging to see the destruction in the parking lot. The neighbor across the way was cursing at how he had just bought his new Audi the day before and now it had hail damage and a broken windshield. Very few of the cars had all of their windows left. Evy and David's little red Honda had a hole in the back windshield that looked as if Nolan Ryan had pitched a baseball through it.

Everyone seemed to have a camera ready and if they didn't they ran back inside the complex to get one. They were all snapping shots of their cars, and calling friends and family on their cellphones to compare damage. The party at Evy and David's was called off, but just like any storm in Texas, they just took it in stride. Why make a big fuss out of something you couldn't do anything about? Might as well have a drink and laugh about it.

Her consciousness back in the coffee shop, Evy decides to take a break from thinking and writing, to fill her aching belly with a late lunch. "Santa's" back in his usual spot, reading away, and as she passes him, on her way out the door, she's overcome with a sense of sadness. Will he still be here when she comes back to visit in a year or two? This place of safety and belonging for Evy won't be that way when she comes back. There will be another young woman who has taken her spot as a regular. They might not even remember her. She can feel the end of this portion of her journey nearing and it's exciting, scary and sad all at once.