Espresso Love (A Dystopian Japan Novel) #Wattys2014

While It Is Open

- While It Is Open -

There's the same old man at the counter. This time a smile on his face. No Paganini, just Mendelssohn. He watches without moving and then says,

"No coffee?"

"Kind of in a rush," his customer says. There's two of them but one is silent.

"Well that's too bad. We got new coffee beans, fresh from a place called Resso Coffee, have you heard of them?"

"Maybe," the man says. The woman keeps quiet. In the dark lighting of the shop, it's hard to make out their faces clearly. To the old man, they appear a thin and weary, moving with slight limps. What makes them out of place are their large baggy white t-shirts and pants that resemble some sort of hospital gown. He wonders if it's a new fashion trend.

"You probably have, they have shops all over the place. They're going to take over Starbucks in Japan soon," the old man says.

"Take over huh?"

"That's the way it works, things replace another, just like people, just like music. I used to listen to Paganini, now it's Mendelssohn. Tell me, do you like Mendelssohn?"

"It's okay." Again, only the younger man speaks.

"Well I'm sure you didn't come here to listen to Mendelssohn."

"No, perhaps not. I have the key, is it open now?"

"Well," the old man pauses, "why, yes it is."

He shows them to the back of his store, walking through a narrow corridor lined with cardboard boxes that rise to the ceiling like pillars of smoke and fire. It gets darker within as they press on. The shopkeeper fumbles with a set of keys. They make a melodic tinkle, something from a wind chime on a hot summer day. The old man hums along with the Hebrides Overture playing in the background.

"Through here. Best enter while it's open for you," he says, after he had unlocked the door. He doesn't open the door, but merely steps aside.

The man and the woman look at him for a while, as if they're wondering whether the gatekeeper is for real. The door in front of them is a flat metal door, matte grey, with no distinguishing features. But both of them know the simplest things hold the deepest secrets.