Inspiration

What Exactly Is A Flat White?

The streets were relatively quiet considering it was a weekday and that allowed me to enjoy the surroundings and in particular the heat of the suns rays upon my skin, it always seemed to me that participating in the simplistic ritual of walking was rewarding in so many ways…

Today I had left my pedometer at home and was not counting the number of steps along the high street, nor was I concerned with finding out the latest gossip that I had discovered while checking my facebook status last night.

Someone had supposedly seen the butcher, baker and candlestick maker all talking in a huddle about something or other…

Each to their own, life was too short for unexpected surprises or shocks and right now I had more important concerns on my mind..

I demanded an audience to enable my mind to be opened and then I could get beyond those four words and start a sentence that would lead to a chapter and eventually to the creation of a book which if it was deemed to be interesting enough would make me enough money to finally put a deposit down on a mountain retreat that I had set my heart on in what had been a pipe dream back in my youth.

And so with a new spring in my step I continued to walk along the cobbled streets and ventured further into the town until I saw the sign directly above me

Ye Olde Coffee House…

Legend has it that this place has been here since the sixteenth century and I often imagined that to be true the way the owner who was herself an octogenarian in both age and appearance, it was always possible that she had an ulterior motive and had lived for much longer and that she lured the unsuspecting member of the public inside where they were treated to flagons of hot steaming coffee and chocolate muffins before she revealed her true self and transformed her victims into gingerbread…

Maybe I could use that idea for my next venture, a modern retelling of hansel and gretel.

Would it find enough interest?

I would need to severely expand on a story which such a simple premise and besides I didn’t like the idea of child abduction even if it was meant to be totally untrue, no I lived in the present and had a mission to complete!

I approached the building from the front and observed that it was also quite empty, this brought back my thoughts about how weekday trade tended to die a death and that it was the weekend that allowed many of these places to keep enough money to stay afloat.

It was while thinking about this that my mind went absent again and had another thought….maybe the old woman was poisoning the drinks and then disposing of her customers which she sent down a metal shute to the butchers down the road but somehow I couldn’t imagine that Sweeney Todd had decided to take a detour and settle down in our sleepy hamlet.

I banished that thought and opened the door, an old fashioned bell above it announced my presence and all eyes turned toward me but when they realised who it was I became just another face in the crowd.

Despite the building being old it was just like any other coffee house and soon the smell of freshly roasted beans reached my nostrils, I took a moment to breath it in before turning around to see an empty space near the window and settled down into a wooden chair which flanked a small table in the corner….

I sat and removed a writing pad from the side pocket of my coat and began to take notes of my journey so far, I had some good material for my book but felt something was missing and then the answer came to me.

Coffee..

The aromas hit me again and then I was awoken by the sound of a young woman who appeared as if by magic in front of me..

I looked up to observe her and was immediately struck with an unsettling thought….

No doubt this shop had been bought over by one of the local chains but I didnt wish to dwell on such a subject or be arrested for copyright infringement, all I could say was that she was wearing an apron with the name emblazoned across the front, I was sort of impressed because it hugged the curves she possessed but at the same time I was disappointed because of the fact that it hugged her curves, I couldn’t determine her age but she had a bright complexion and a lovely smile.

The apron as previously mentioned covered up her upper body and maintained an air of importance but I allowed my eyes to cast down upon her bare legs which were indeed toned, she was wearing a pair of shorts which accentuated sexiness, I loved legs and right at this moment I thought about leaning in closer and running a solitary digit along her left thigh to see what reaction I would get.

She might like it, or she might call the police……instead I looked back up into her eyes which shone with the precision of time in an array of colours……I saw rubies, emeralds, white diamonds…..

Somehow an Ice breaker was needed to put my feelings into check and help her maintain the professional approach and this was done with a wry smile and a few words.

“What can I get you?”

I looked around for a menu and seeing one which had slipped off the table onto the floor picked it up and scanned the many different types of coffee.

“Do you have Mochachino?”

She smirked at me and then bit her lip which I imagined was something she did often but it had the effect of turning me into jelly, it didn’t take too much to turn me on but she wasn’t to know that.

“We do but if you are interested there is a special deal today”.

I had heard this type of promotional nonsense for many an occasion but actually found myself looking into her hypnotic glare and nodding my head.

“And what is that please?”

“Flat white and a chocolate muffin”.

The fabled muffin which I had heard so much about made its entrance into the conversation but the drink was lost on me..

“Sounds delicious but apologies for my ignorance”.

“You want to know what a flat white is?”

“Is it that obvious?”

“We find most of our patrons will tend to ask for a white coffee or one of the specialist drinks but a flat white is simply one third coffee with two thirds milk”.

I pulled a face, if there was one thing I didn’t like it was milky tea or coffee.

She read my reaction perfectly…

“Your not the first to do that, to be honest I hate it too so what I will do is make the deal but with the drink you requested”.

“Can you do that?”

“Technically no but I will do anything for a beautiful woman”.

I was about to answer but she had left the table and was about to place the order when she dropped the paper on the floor, I got an excellent view of her upper thigh and when she stuck her head between her legs to look at me I was rewarded with another smirk and the biting of her lip…

I could feel myself hyperventilating and my own legs once again felt like jelly..

Was she flirting with me?