A café, somewhere in England. It is empty, except for the Owner. He adjusts stale pastries at the counter. Outside, white paint flakes off the wall. Silence.
A Young Man enters. He is, it seems to fair to say, not welcome.
Y Good afternoon there, sir!
O Hello there.
Y Could I get, er... just an apple juice, please?
O We only do cordial. That all right?
Y Erm... do you have orange?
O Orange cordial.
Y Yeah, just a glass of that, please.
O I’ll bring it over. Have a seat.
Y sits by the window
O finds the bottle of cordial, unopened for years, and struggles with the bottlecap, though the congealed cordial crust offers little resistance of its own
pours far too much into a filthy glass and fills with cloudy tap water
serves
Y Ah – thank you for that.
O Pleasure.
Y looks out the window
takes a sip of the cordial and none after that
O watches him
adjusts the pastries
Y reads through the laminated, spare menu
O watches him
adjusts the glasses
watches him
Y does not look behind him
O watches him
hears something
looks at him
slowly exits to the back
Y turns to see him leave
stands to look around
looks at the counter, then behind it, for some time
returns to where he sat, though stands, and looks out the window
O enters
Oh.
Y Hm?
O You, er... you waiting for someone, then?
Y Oh no, no.
O Mm. Right. Can I get you – to himself no, you’ve still got your... juice...
Y looks out the window
How long has this place been here?
O Showing its age?
Y Sorry? Oh – no no no, just, er, wondering. Settle a bet, you know.
O Fifteen years or so. Give or take.
Y It’s funny – I used to live here when I was little, and I don’t remember ever seeing this place on the high street.
O We're not the sort of place people notice.
Y Everywhere else looks the same as it always did. Even the signs are the same. Those are what you remember most clearly of all, the shop signs.
O Right.
Y Yeah...
So you... do you see much – do you get a lot of people coming in here these days?
O Well, it’s not what it was...
Y The recession?
O Hasn’t helped.
Y Course...
O We get the local rotary club every now and then, keeping us from...
Anyway – ‘s there anything else I can get you?
Y No, ta – what do I owe you?
O Ooh, er... pound ninety.
Y Ah – ok... er, there you go.
O Ta.
Y Thank you.
exits
O watches him leave
checks the café
sighs with relief
hears something
exits to the back
End.
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