The foam leaf atop my coffee was slowly becoming deformed as I sipped. A light hazelnut aroma rose from Oliver’s mug. We were sitting at a small round table next to the window. It was crowded and noisy. I was not the only one who enjoyed this particular café.
“So,” I began, grasping the mug with my cold hands, holding it before me, elbows on the table. “Why do you do new things every month?”
Oliver broke off a bit of the blueberry scone he had bought. “Because there are a lot of things that I want to do.”
“But why for a whole month? Why not for just a couple of weeks?” A month seemed like a long time to do something I didn’t like. “Do you stop if you end up not liking it?”
“Yeah mostly. But I don’t choose to do something that I have zero interest in.” He plopped the bit of scone into his mouth. “Mmm, this is really good. Do you want some?”
I shook my head. “So what did you do last month?”
“I tried to learn Morse code.”
“And?” That sounded fascinating. I would love to be able to know some sort of code. I’d be able to send people messages in secret. Well, if I had anyone to send them to that is.
“Dot, dot, dot, dash, dot, dash, dot, dash, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot.”
I starred at him. “I’m guessing you learned it. What did you say?”
“Scone,” he said simply taking another bite of his.
“That’s it? It sounded like a lot more.”
“You have to spell out words. Sometimes there are abbreviations, but I don’t think there is one for scone.”
“What’s S.O.S? I feel like I should know that one at least.”
“Dot, dot, dot, dash, dash, dash, dot, dot, dot.”
I took another sip of my coffee, impressed. Silence grew as we continued to enjoy our food and drinks. What other things had he taught himself? How many skills did he have? How does he have the time to do all of that? I instantly thought of the hours I spent every week in front of the television. Maybe he didn’t watch TV. Oliver probably used that time to do all sorts of interesting things.
“Do you ever watch TV?” I asked. I don’t seem to be able to filter my thoughts.
He looked a little surprised at the turn in the conversation, but moved forward quickly. “Yeah, why?”
“Just wondering. You seem to have a lot of time to learn new things that’s all.”
Oliver looked down at his empty coffee mug. “I work part time.” He seemed a little upset.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to dig into your life.” We did only meet earlier that day after all.
“It’s okay,” Oliver said, swiping the crumbs from his plate into his mug. “Did I keep you from anything important today?”
Having gotten off work early, I would have been at home watching TV and eating a microwaved meal. “Not really. I just had some paperwork to do, but I can do it another time.” There was a possibility Oliver could be my friend. I wasn’t going to mess that up now.
“What’s next month’s activity?” I asked him.
“I haven’t chosen yet. I’m thinking something to do with disguises.”
“Been doing a lot of spy stuff lately?” A little smile played across my face.
“There’s tons of different things you can learn about in the spy world.”
“Why do you like spies so much?” I hadn’t asked earlier; I’d been having too much fun looking through holes in a newspaper.
As Oliver pondered that, I took a big gulp of coffee. I felt much warmer now. “I guess it’s because they always seem to save the day.”
“And the day needs saving?” I said jokingly.
Oliver looked serious. “It could one day.”
Was he serious? What did he think he could do with the Morse code and newspaper disguises? “From what?” I decided to humor him.
“I’m not quite sure yet. I’m working on that at the moment.” He looked straight at me. “Do you want to help Claire?”
It was my turn to be surprised. “Help?” I was beginning to think that he really was being serious. I didn’t know him very well. And he had been spying at people from behind a newspaper when I met him.
“Yes. Do you want to help me figure out what’s going on?”
“What’s going on?” I said, realizing instantly that it was a stupid question.
“I don’t know.” Yep, it had been a stupid question. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out. So do you want to?”
My friends would probably warn me not too; if I had any friends. Oliver seemed like he could be one. I had enjoyed the time I spent with him. Even if he was a little odd it could be a good change of pace. “Sure. Sounds like fun.”
Oliver gave me a very serious look. “Claire, it might not always be fun.”
And how very right he turned out to be.
oh your back Clair, thx
You’re welcome 🙂 it’s good to be back