I
SOMEHOW- BY CHANCE, Misty convinced Derrick to drop her off downtown. Her last words before leaving him, “I’m glad were friends”. Friends, the word hung in the air like an unreachable cloud. Derrick tried to cool off from this intimate encounter. He knew the perfect place; his favorite coffee shop, down the corner from his home. It also served as his spy hangout, he’d people-watch there, got more ideas for characters in his choreography. He could get a cup of coffee almost anywhere, but most shops would close earlier than he liked. He asked Sheila, the shop’s owner, why he allowed the shop to be opened so late, sometimes closing around two or three in the morning and Sheila told him it brought more people in and with more people meant more money for the shop. Derrick often came in around two in the morning, but when he did, he always noticed it filled with what Derrick called “Granola people”, activists and tree huggers, young students in corduroys hunched over heavy texts, studying late into the night, sometimes fallen asleep over their books. The amount of people that filled this spot was absolutely amazing, they parked there little cars all along the parking lot, flowing into the areas where Burger King and Subway customers normally parked.
Sheila is efficient; she knew how to get things done on time. She ran a tight shop and made sure that people knew it. She ironed everything she wore even her aprons. When she wasn't pouring coffee for customers, she was making sure someone in her coffee shop was. Sheila placed Derrick’s favorite coffee drink in his hands with a hard push and ran off. He noticed her wiping off her forehead, tossing a towel over her shoulder, and putting some business cards in front of the barista's area, making sure they were perfect aligned with the case that held them.
