Mike took his latte from the counter and scanned for an available seat in the cafe. It wasn't the best time to be looking to sit in with his coffee. Lunch hour had just gotten started and the place had filled up fast. Slim pickings, hang on, wait. Was that one there? Yes, it was. He headed over to one of the long six seater benches which had a few empty chairs. There was an old guy at one end, belongings spread around him stirring sugar into his cup. A cup of tea lay steaming across from him with a prim looking ladies bag perched next to it.
'Scuse me, anyone sitting here?' He motioned to the empty seats at the end smiling affably.
The old guy looked up, visibly startled. 'No son, nobody else. Please, help yourself. Only me and the wife at this end.'
Mike dragged a seat on the same side as the old guy out from the table with a metallic scrape and set himself down. He opened his bag and pulled out his laptop. He was hoping for free WiFi but he hadn't seen a sign. It has to have it he thought as he hinged the screen open. What kind of place doesn't have WiFi these days? His laptop on finishing booting gave a cheerful chirp as it acknowledged a public WiFi signal. Good, time to relax and catch up with the news and his coffee.
He took a slurp of his coffee as the news site loaded, damn adverts. He kept meaning to get an ad-blocker. Joe, his friend/tech guy was always telling him it would improve his surfing speed by 80%. Yeah, good one Joe. Always with the numbers. He slowly reached his coffee back to the table, eyes fixed on the screen when the old guy beside him piped up.
'Pretty jazzy laptop you got there!'
'Um, yeah.' Mike looked up grudgingly. 'It's kinda new.' Eyes back to the screen.
'I'm a laptop man myself.' Don't hold with those big PC's. Why bother when you can do everything on something that you can carry around! The old man had turned in his chair to face him, his face enlivened as he spoke.
Jesus, this was annoying. Mike had limited time today and had hoped to get his coffee and relax for an hour before heading back to work. Couldn't the old guy just mind his own business? Please let his wife come back soon so he could just bury his head in his screen and close everything out.
He zoned back into the old guy who by now was getting properly into his stride. Still talking about PC's versus laptops and what? Oh lord, now he was talking about smartphones. He nodded, occasionally murmuring Really or Yeah. He cursed his polite upbringing, it had always paralysed him in situations like this. It was the same at work or in social gatherings. He always ended up being the one trapped by the group bore whilst everyone else rejoiced that someone else was taking the hit.
The old guy was nodding at Mike's smartphone now on the table.
'You see I just can't get the hang of them.' He nodded at Mike as if looking for permission to carry on then carried on regardless. 'I have a phone, the battery lasts forever and I can take calls on it. Why would I want to be a slave to a smartphone? Now the wife,' he rolled his eyes at his wife's seat. 'She can't get enough of hers. Can't put it down. Probably playing Candy Crush right now. Ha! Won't come out of that toilet until her legs go numb from the seat!' He chortled wheezily his eyes crinkling conspiratorially at Mike.
Mike sighed inwardly. No chance of enjoying some solitude now. He may as well play along with the old coot until his wife came back at least. Not that that was any guarantee, the old fellow seemed to have taken a shine to him. He attempted to turn his shoulder very slightly away from the old guy but it didn't interrupt the flow. Not one bit. A few moments later the sheer social awkwardness made him face the old guy again. Ooop back to computer talk, he nodded sagely.
'She's a writer you see... doesn't know anything about computers. I have to set up Word on the damn thing and then she just goes on it and types.' The old guy reared back and grinned for effect. 'Doesn't mean she can't use Amazon though you know! Oh yes, no problem online shopping but when it comes to the tech'y stuff. Daniel, she calls. I need you to switch Word on for me.' The old guy shook his head in mock exasperation.
Mike noticed his coffee had become luke-warm. Perfect, he thought. Time to escape. If he couldn't relax inside he would just have a walk around before returning to work. He nodded automatically whilst pulling his coat on as the old guy carried on chatting away. He almost felt bad about leaving as the oldster seemed to be gaining so much enjoyment from the admittedly one-sided conversation. He was talking about something else now, something to do with cars?
'Anyway.' He interrupted the old man. 'Heading off, um, enjoy your coffee.'
'Oh,' the old guy looked crestfallen for a moment. Then he perked up. 'No problem young sir, she will be out in a minute I am sure now. I don't get much of a chance to get a word in edgewise when she is here.' He rolled his eyes and winked.
Mike laughed whilst backing away. Relieved to escape. As he neared the door he glanced back. The cafe was not so busy now and the old man was sitting where he had left him looking downward at his hands. He turned and shoved open the door and stepped into the light.
The old man sat a while longer. It wasn't busy now, no-one took the seats nearby. Sighing he pulled himself awkwardly up to stand and lifting a big old rucksack started to pack away his stuff. He paused on an old paperback running his finger over the front slowly before placing it in his bag. Finally, he looked at the ladies handbag across from him next to the now cold tea. Shaking his head slightly he lifted the handbag and placed it in the rucksack at the top with the rest of his stuff before pulling the straps over his shoulders with a grunt and heading for the door.
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?
A good question, they often just slip through the cracks. Putting on a happy face for other people just wanting some contact. We often din't even notice
Lol, I knew that was familiar! Good quote!
LOL
You got me hehe! :-)
i was hooked in . great work
Thank you, that is much appreciated :-)