Homework
16th November 2011
19.10.2011 - 19.10.2011
10 °C
Homework for writers club meeting, 16th Nov 2011: 'Describe a person or place, real or imaginary in 500 words or less'
--oOo--
It is early in the morning. The cafe is empty of patrons. Outside, the sun is up, but very little of it reaches down into these narrow winding streets of three or four story buildings. Inside, light is reflected brightly off polished white and stainless steel surfaces. The hombre behind the counter busies himself by wiping a surface that is already clean. He moves a big bag of small churros snacks next to the coffee machine so that they can be conveniently added to saucers as coffee is being made.
A lady totters in purposefully aboard high heels. The hombre instantly recognises her. She is the hairdresser from the shop next door and a regular customer. He greets her with an easy smile and remarks that her night couldn't have been much fun if she is in so early and looking so fresh. She laughs and tells him that her night is still going and he’d better make the order a double shot espresso today.
Three people wander in off the street. They are wearing large backpacks and dressed in the bright colours of a traffic signal: one green, one red, one yellow. They are obviously pilgrims. They clumsily and loudly bang their backpacks into chairs and tables and each other as they make their way to the counter. The hombre excuses himself from the hairdresser and attends to the pilgrims.
The green pilgrim babbles something to the hombre in a foreign language. The hombre thinks it is English. He doesn't understand and shakes his head. The green pilgrim repeats, speaking slower and louder. The hombre persistently shakes his head; he is never going to understand; he wonders why tourists come to Spain without first learning a few words of Spanish? The green pilgrim is getting exasperated. The red pilgrim takes over and with a few harsh sounding words of English sends the green and yellow pilgrims to a table at the back of the cafe. They stumble to their table, continuing the ritual of bashing their backpacks against the chairs and tables along the way.
Red pilgrim voices a series of staccato Spanish words to the hombre: "can we have", "bread roll", "egg", "ham", "three", "please". The Spanish "three" is accompanied by three fingers held up on one hand. The hombre doesn't know what type of ham is wanted but he does know that it's better to guess than to ask. He does ask if coffees are required and they are. "three", "white coffees", "please" answers the red pilgrim. The three fingers are held up again.
The red pilgrim stumbles to the back table, re-enacting the bashing and crashing before heaving his backpack down to lay against the toilet door. The hairdresser sends an unpleasant look off to join the pilgrims. The hombre busies himself with filling the order, deftly placing a small churro snack on the saucer of each coffee as it is made.
Posted by andrew_kleinert 15.11.2011 19:51 Archived in Spain
