Inner Workings - Week 3

I’VE STARTED TO WRITE A BOOK ABOUT A LOCAL CAFE. MY FIRST EVER BOOK!

Here we go then. Straight into the first chapter. (please give me your honest feedback!) 😬

The sign outside still said cafe. Not even a name. Just cafe in faded red letters where the ‘A’ flickered if it rained too hard.

“Two full English, one no tomato, one extra black pudding,” shouted Dodgy Dave, already plating both without looking up.

“Who has no tomato?” asked Emo Emily, not moving.

“Table two.”

“They’ve got a tomato.”

“Then they can take it off.”

Emily nodded like that made perfect sense, picked up the plates and drifted over.

At the counter, a man in a hi-vis jacket was halfway through a mug of tea and a complaint.

“I’m just saying,” he went, “if you’re charging for mushrooms, they should look like mushrooms.”

“They are mushrooms,” said Dave.

“They’re grey.”

“They’ve been cooked.”

The man accepted this. Took a bite. Nodded.

“Fair enough.”

In the corner, Johnny Smiler stood polishing cutlery that had already been polished.

No one had ever seen him not smiling.

“Morning, John,” said Emily as she passed.

“Brilliant,” he said.

It was always “brilliant.”

Didn’t matter what you said.

“Bus crashed outside.”

“Brilliant.”

“Dave’s dropped a sausage on the floor and put it back.”

“Brilliant.”

Behind the counter, Fruity Felix leaned against the coffee machine, watching the room like it was a stage he hadn’t quite stepped onto yet.

He wasn’t doing the voice. Not in the morning.

In the morning he sounded like everyone else.

“Milk’s nearly gone,” he said.

“Use water,” said Dave.

Felix nodded slowly.

“Noted.”

By half two, it was over.

Last of the plates cleared. Last of the tea poured. The hi-vis crowd drifted out, replaced by silence and the hum of a fridge that sounded like it was thinking about giving up.

Emily stacked chairs on tables without being asked.

Johnny was still smiling.

Dave lit a cigarette out the back and stared at nothing.

And Felix clapped his hands once.

“Right,” he said.

No one reacted.

He clapped again, louder.

“Right. We begin.”

Emily didn’t look up.

“Do we.”

“Yes,” said Felix, already different. Shoulders back. Voice lifted.

Dave came back in, trailing smoke and indifference.

“Begin what.”

Felix turned to him like he’d been waiting all day.

“Service.”

Dave scratched his chin.

“We’ve done service.”

“No,” said Felix, with a small smile. “We’ve done breakfast.”

There was a pause.

From the kitchen doorway, Psycho Sally appeared like she’d been summoned by tension alone.

“We doing this properly tonight?” she asked.

Dave looked at her.

Looked at Felix.

Looked at the room.

It was still the same room. Same sticky floor. Same tables that didn’t quite sit right.

“Course we are,” he said.

Felix beamed and then left to pick up his evening suit from the dry cleaners.

The rest of the staff pushed the piano from out the back.

Perfectly pressed table cloths and tall candles began to be put out on the tables…

What do you think?

(The place turns into a Night Cafe but still serves greasy breakfasts. Yet different clientele start to come. Everything ramps up. Food writers and journalists turn up. It’s the talk of the town. Tension builds and relationships change. Twists and turns. Northern, hearty, relatable, emotional and yet bringing all walks of life together is my aim of the story. New characters emerge, some leave. Things change. Just like the menu.)

Now to the old Argos catalogue!

After my recent splurge on football stickers at Argos, it reminded me of the utter joy of being a child and flicking through the huge Argos catalogue for Christmas presents. I still remember the exact feeling and the weight of the catalogue as I spent hours pondering what to choose. My next post will be a short essay of how much I miss this very British ritual.

That’s all for this week folks!

As always, I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone that continues to read and support my work.

This newsletter will continue each week and be an exclusive weekly dose of my thoughts. I’ll break down how I’m thinking about upcoming articles, share some observations from my week and give you a peek into my creative processes. Paid subscribers will also gain further access as the weeks continue.

Just me working things out and keeping you in the loop.

Take it easy, Tom ✌️