Sweetie Pie's Bakery

The Vacuum

"What the fuck is this?" Santana ducked under the awning of the small shop she knew so well, and pulled her hood down off her head. It was another of the rainy New York days, but she hadn't allowed that to faze her, and diligently carried out her usual morning run without complaint. She pulled her earphones out and took in the sight in front of her; granted, it had been a few weeks since she'd ran this route and last visited, but this was pretty extreme. The coffee shop she stood in front of was usually bright and cheery, if rather vacant, but today was clearly an exception. A big one. The once smart bottle green awning had been rolled up half way and looked tattered, and the large window sticker displaying the shop's name in bright gold letters had been peeled away, leaving nothing but sticky residue on the glass. The usually clean lino-floor was scuffed and marked, covered in a thin layer of dust, and the only familiar sight she saw was that of the cafe's small owner trundling about inside. She stepped forward and knocked her knuckles on the glass, and he came rushing to the door.

"Hey, Santana! Long time, no see. How've you been?" He welcomed her in and she shuddered as she stepped over the threshold

"What's up, Mr Bernstein. I'm clearly better than you are, what the hell happened?" She frowned down at the portly man and he gave a shrug

"Well you know how it is. Business was hardly booming and so...we decided to call it a day!" he walked round behind the countertop to pick up a stack of papers, and it was then that she noticed it had been uprooted from the floor.

"So, you're just leaving? Wow. I mean, you said things weren't going so well but I didn't realise it was this bad. The place looks so...sad." She looked around her with a frown at the blank space. It was only a small place, but usually held a few tables and chairs and some soft furnishings, and as she gazed around she could see the bright spaces where pictures had protected the now-shabby wallpaper from fading in the sunlight.

"Well you know, with a Starbuck's on every corner who needs a poky family-run coffee shop?" I do, Santana thought. She hated going to Starbuck's; their hot chocolate was bitter as hell and they charged you a freaking arm to sit on one of their weirdly shaped armchairs. She'd rather sit in and chat to the Bernstein's than have some acne-ridden lemming get her order wrong then write his number on the paper sleeve. Sadly, she was apparently the only one.

"Well...that sucks. So what are you going to do?" she turned back to the man and leaned her forearms on the counter

"Thinking about the wife on vacation, maybe a cruise. Then you know...quiet life. Open a place in the suburbs instead maybe? A little closer to home" she nodded and smiled

"Sounds delightful. Escaping the city."

He nodded "Damn right" and she grinned

"Well, best of luck to you. I promise if I ever move to the suburbs you'll be my first port of call" he nodded his thanks and she waved goodbye as she stepped back out into the rain. She ran the short distance back to her apartment, and couldn't help but feel pretty disappointed; she had grown fond of the couple and their cafe. It would be a shame to not longer hear the stories of their four children, and she would miss updating them on how work was going. She only had a few friends in the city, and familiar welcoming faces were always a comfort.

She rounded the corner and pulled open the door to her apartment building, shrugging her hood down and shaking off the rain as she started to climb the stairs. She was grateful she had stopped for a break at the coffee shop now, as attempting to climb these stairs after her workout would have probably put her in the hospital. The elevator had been broken for almost two weeks, and no one had made any attempt to fix it, despite many complaints to the landlord. She had attempted to carry four bags of groceries up fourteen flights of stairs the other day, and had collapsed on the tenth floor, leaving her bags and returning to get them on a second trip.