He didn’t know if they were open for business but he thought he’d try anyway. “I’ll have a 4 shot latte, I *mean* — 4 shots in a cup.”
“No milk?” she tried to clarify. “No flavoring, chocolate perhaps?”
“Just shots, please.”
“So,” she said, “you just want 4 espresso shots in a cup.”
“And two of them — forgot to add that.”
“*Two* cups with 4 shots each in them.”
“Yeah.”
Starbuccaneer Barista thinks: Baker Bloch has changed. She decides to say this aloud.
“Well, just saves time and money,” he comments about the switch in drinks. Probably brain damage down the road, he adds to himself, dutifully completing the unfolded triad.
“Coming right up!” she says brightly, moving down the counter to the espresso machine tucked between a seafood ad and the store safe, tight but meaningful. Aren’t you going to ask about the new establishment? she laments while filling the 2 baskets with 2 shots each, then two more of the same to follow, she reminds herself. Darn Baker Bloch. Always involved in himself; thinking about the blog and such. But then this, putting a smile back on her face:
“Place has changed.” He looks around. “Not really a Starbuccaneers. Glad you got coffee still.” I guess you’re the glue, he thinks, imagining her with her company pirate hat back on to match her apron. Guess it was removed to save on prims. Perhaps Spongeberg the Editor has already come for a visit, ha ha.
Changed just like you, she thinks, finishing the first of the two. Tandem. She says aloud: “Wheeler thought the white whale motif would look better against the side of the white castle. *Barely* fit, you know. Take a look at the tail when you leave.”
Baker glances at the rug behind him. “And the elephant. Why an elephant? Why not–”
“Enough whales in here already,” said Starbuccaneer Barista, scanning the pictures on the walls. Second of the two done, with two more to go still, she reminded herself again. “Have you ever been to Wales?”
—–
“Have you ever been in a whale?” Still no sense.
—–
“Have you —“. Wait, I guess that last sentence does make sense. Coffee is served.
Sunklands 