Fiction: The Solace Cafe

This month's Words for Wednesday prompts are provided by Alex J. Cavanaugh and are posted at Elephant's Child's blog here. This week's prompts are: staple, symbolic, relic, ebony, flames And/Or moon, general, drums, presto, thrilled. I didn't use presto and general.

Fiction: The Solace Cafe
"It taste like rain," she says as she places the cup back onto the saucer. Picking up the spoon, she spins it around the porcelain cup though she has not added sugar or cream to her tea. The clanking sound rings loudly in the almost empty cafe while in the background, a low, slow tune plays from the speakers.
    I nod. What is a good respond? Rain tastes like stale water, not something to get into the habit of drinking. Tea has been a staple in my house growing up. It is a relic ritual my great-grandmother had started, a symbolic way of celebrating the beginning of a fresh day.
    The two of us, the only customers in the cafe, sit in a booth at the front. Faint, late afternoon daylight shines through the glass storefront into the unlit cafe and lands on the floor by our table. In the back booth, I hear the waitresses counting their tips.
    My companion does not seem to be in a hurry. Her patience is carried by her slow, lingering demeanor. For over two hours, I have listened to this woman talked about random and familiar things. Her soothing voice lulls me into a strange trance of comfort and lethargy.
    I busy myself with my third cup of black tea and take a bite of my carrot cake. I try not to stare. The woman's medium length ebony hair is held back on the right side by a silver hair clip shaped like a bird with flames for a tail. It catches the light from time to time. The lines on her forehead smooth out whenever she smiles.
    For long minutes, neither of us speaks. The silence settles in with the sounds of our small movements and the faint music. The empty tables and empty chairs around me makes me weary. I can no longer hear the waitresses. I look behind the woman and out toward the streets at the cars passing back and forth, their sounds muffled.
    My cup is empty. I look around for the waitress to bring me another but I do not see her nor any of the other waitresses. Where have they gone?
    "How is your tea?"
    I turn back to her. "It doesn't taste like rain," I say with a smile though I don't know why I should smile.
    She lets out a boisterous laugh, her eyes shrink into two half moons. "What then?"
    I shrug. "Like sunshine." Joker, my dog, is always panting whenever he spots sunlight coming through the windows. He thinks it is time to go jogging. He loves running as much as my son and I. The three of us go jogging every weekday morning unless it rains. Ethan would always run ahead even though I told him not to. For a five-year-old, he runs surprisingly fast. I cannot remember his face now. He seems so far away. Where have I placed that photo album? If I can see his photograph, I would remember.
    I look up at the woman, sitting, facing me. Does she want something from me? My hands are a bit sweaty. Why have she sat down at my table? I shift my feet a bit wider apart. The leather seats are softer than I would like. I pick up my cup but put it down as it is empty. As is the plate once holding my carrot cake. If only one of the waitresses would appear.
    "So last month, I brought a sofa." She looks up at me with a small smile.
    "Is that so?" I am not certain where this is going.
    "It was a good sofa but it couldn't fit through the door. We had to let the delivery men take apart one of the front windows to get it inside. Can you believe it?" She giggles. I smile.
    "And then we found the sofa didn't fit through the window either. So they offered to take the sofa apart and that worked." She shakes her head and smiles. Her eyes drift to her half-eaten chocolate cake and then down at her cup.
    My heart thumps in fast echos and a strange thrill drums through me. It couldn't be a coincidence the same thing happened to me and Elsie, could it? The delivery men didn't charge us for taking apart and putting the window back and then taking the sofa apart and putting it back. We served them coffee and carrot cake and a generous tip for their kindness.
    "It was a good day." She pauses to take a sip from her cup and then places it back down. "Do you believe we should recall our memories when we need a reminder of how lucky we are to be alive?"
    "Maybe." I meet her blue eyes.
    She smiles and stirs her tea. "We are all lucky. Our memories stay with us and are always there even if we forget."
    I nod. I haven't forgotten Ethan or Elsie even if I cannot remember their faces now.
    "Oh, here comes the waitress." She points behind me.
    I turn around to look. The waitress, carrying a tray of napkins, walks past and goes behind the counter on the left side of the cafe.
    I turn back. There are bills and coins on the table beside the empty cup. The cake is gone and so is the woman. Why had she sat down in the first place? Why did her words bring comfort? Did she know me? I didn't know her.
    As I pull out my wallet and signal the waitress, I remember how nice it had been when Elsie and I finally sat on the sofa in the middle of the room with all the boxes surrounding us. At that moment, our life together had just begun. We knew nothing of what was to come.
    Outside, it has darkened. The cool November wind glides over me. It has been a good day for a double funeral. I look up at the cloudless sky. Yes, it has been a good day.
    It is a bit late to be going back to the house. I have no excuses to explain my absence but that does not matter. I don't regret stopping here. Perhaps I should get a new sofa and find that photo album and remember again how lucky I had been. Perhaps I should start taking Joker out for morning jogs.