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 fair to say, not welcome.
Y Good afternoon there, sir!
O Hello there – er, what can I get for you?
Y Ooh, could I get, er... just an apple juice, please?
O We – we only do cordial. That all right?
Y Oh, right, ok, well... could I just have an orange then?
O Orange cordial?
Y Yeah, ta.
O I’ll bring it over. You... have a seat.
Y sits by the window, looking out at the street
O finds the bottle of cordial, unopened for years, and struggles with the bottlecap, though the congealed crust offers little resistance of its own
pours far too much into a filthy glass and fills with lukewarm, cloudy tap water
serves
Y Ah – thanks for that, thank you.
O No problem – pleasure.
Y looks out the window
O adjusts the pastries, watching him
Y looks back at him
O smiles awkwardly, having been caught
Y takes a sip from the glass and none after that
O watches him
adjusts display pastries
Y reads over the laminated, spare menu
O watches him carefully
adjusts the glasses
watches him
Y does not look behind him
O hears something
looks at him
carefully but hurriedly exits to the back
Y turns to see him leave
breathes
stands to look around
looks at the counter, then behind it
studies the walls
returns to where he sat, though stands
O enters
Y looks out the window at the street
O Oh.
Y Hm? Oh – hello again. Didn’t realise you’d gone.
O Are you – oh no, just something in the, you know – back.
You er... are you waiting for someone then?
Y Oh no, no.
O Mm. Right. Well can I get you – to himself – no, you’ve still got your juice there, haven’t you...
Y looks out the window
Do you mind if I ask a question?
O What? Oh, no. Fire away.
Y How long has this place been here? On the high street?
O Showing its age?
Y No no, course not – just wondering. Settle a bet, you know, that sort of thing.
O Fifteen years. Give or take.
Y Funny.
O Oh really?
Y I used to live here when I was little, just going round to have a look at everything again – nostalgia, you know – at my age, as well – and everything looks so familiar, some of the signs are exactly the same as they were ten years ago – those are what you remember most of all, the shop signs – but I cannot remember seeing this place once when I was a kid.
O Well we’re not really the sort of place people notice.
Y No...
So – do you get much, you know, footfall, er... do you get many people from round here coming in these days?
O Er, well – we’re not what we were.
Y Recession?
O Hasn’t helped.
Y No.
O The local rotary club pops in once in a while, keeps us, you know...
Anyway, um – what else can I get you? Small cake? Spot of tea?
Y No, I’m fine thanks.
O Oh – all right then...
Y So what do I owe you?
O Oh, er... pound ninety.
Y Ah – er, ok... there you go.
O Much obliged.
Y Thanks. Be seeing you.
O Bye now.
Y exits
O watches him leave
checks the café
sighs with relief
goes over to the front door, steps outside to look for customers, then shuts the door and locks it, flipping from ‘Open’ to ‘Closed’
exits to the back
End.
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