Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Wakefield Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Denise is the host.
This week’s prompt word is:
PASTE
The Six Sentence Café & Bistro, its reputation as impeccable as it was unremarkable, has always maintained good-standing as a member in: the National Restaurant Association, the Better Business Bureau and a soupe à l’alphabet of three letter trade, civic and professional organizations. ‘the Café’ as it is known to a small coterie of cognoscenti, insiders and regular customers, bends over backwards to comply with all pertinent authorities. From agencies of the State, local municipalities, down through a panoply of historical societies, genealogical fan clubs and hospitality associations, suffice it to say, for the dedication of the seven Proprietors, no ‘T’ was ever left without its axiomatic arm nor an ‘i’ bereft of its ‘tittle’.
Despite the world entering an era of cut ‘n paste creativity, the institution of the SSC&B has been observed, spotted and surreptitiously studied in an endless variety of locales and adressess, albeit, always an out-of-the-way/ slightly-off-the-beaten-track location, yet it’s defining quality remains the same.
For those who manage to find and enter the Café, the recognition in the other patrons, customers and, even Proprietors, is grounded in kinship. While fairy tales and legends abound with stories of magical domains, the Six Sentence Café & Bistro offers the most everyday and mundane of gifts, the opportunity to identify with others of like-mind and good intent.
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About clarkscottroger
It’s a fun ol’ place to enter, Clark, once you get in!
tru dat, T
whoever walks there, hardly ever walks alone*
*thanx and a big Doctrine shoutout to Shirley J!
Hey Clark, that’s a good description of what the SSC&B has tried to aspire to in our ever-changing world. “The opportunity to identify with others of like-mind and good intent.”
The current “cut ‘n paste creativity” is plainly a path set out for us (for which for me personally I read as ‘AI’). But where else might you hear the genuine clack of a typewriter, the scrape of a pen nib, the sound of a band tuning up, or the smell of food being grilled in the kitchens – other than a place like the SSC&B?
(even if it is only virtual, lol) 😁
… said the ‘person’ putatively the agency accounting for the appearance of digital letters on a computer screen,
lol
no, I’m totally, 100 percent ‘real’
(I’m sure the folks filing the copyrights for the writing apps will be sure to have the word ‘real’ prohibited, going forward, from use in any context relating to comments on or opinions of authorship of any and all online rhetoric)
I always appreciate when I am welcomed; a Roger can never have too many herds. Thank you.
A place everyone needs but may not recognize needing until it appears.
I agree
Tom, Mimi and Ford described beautifully the magic of the SSC&B, on top of your eloquent Six.
If I had to add , that would be the absence of an exhausting 350 words guidelines form glued on the entrance…
…freedom of expression and acceptance might be a tough cookie for some but man, a breath of fresh creative air that is, one worth standing by.
to borrow a line from the very end of one of the Doctrine’s favorite vid clips (Maddog and Glory)… David Caruso says to incredible (in appearance for a certain role) Mike Starr, ‘Different strokes for different folks’
“Cut and paste creativity” seems to be the order of the day. Many thriller books I read by certain authors have the same plot with only the names changing, ditto movies, especially the super hero kind, and forever making movie reruns of past hits. I’m reminded of Pete Seeger ” little boxes on the hillside all made of ticky tacky and they all look just the same”. Glad to see SSC&B not held back by governmental institutions and sticking to its creativity.
I tend to agree Len. There are, imo, some interesting perspectives on that notion of repetition beyond the ‘your books are selling, don’t change’ the old ‘don’t meddle with success’
Speaking of Cafés, let me know if you find yourself in the mood to stop by. While no one need’s an explicit invitation (Tom is good example of one writing themselves through our Open Door policy) back in the day we used to take the approach referred to as a walk-on. Which simply involved my (or any of the other Proprietors (and Tom) sending you a draft six (setting, characters and such) and then doing your own as your Muse would move you (“You’re wearing that?!!? No way you’re going to go…” lol)
Let us know.
‘Baker Street’ and all the tales and legends… 💖
How long ago the song was not only doesn’t interfere …it’s part of the reason it enhances the story (for a certain chrono-demographic Reader, that is)
👏👍
[:
Where everybody knows your naaaaaame and you’re always glad you caaaaaaame.
“For those who manage to find and enter the Café, the recognition in the other patrons, customers and, even Proprietors, is grounded in kinship.” YES! I deeply appreciate this community and the comradery in it. (Hence why I’m still making sure I read everyone’s stories, even if I am a week late at the moment – it’s been a little busy)
By all means, stop by some Thursday!
The door, (dark oak and wrought iron), down three granite steps in a part of town/the city that, at a certain stage in life, having your friends and classmates in high school or college find out you were there would kick your social status higher than (dating…/winning a scholarship and/or award or fill in the blank-with amphetamines)
Not so much a seedy, dangerous or bad part of town, (surely those are the adjectives that parents and authority-figures assign to places they realize they lack the imagination to desire to visit), it’s more a quietly-haunted part of town. Former manufacturing districts, the buildings are brick, timber-beam, granite walls with black iron skylights. The architecture faithful to the School of Rapacious Capitalism.
The ghosts are not the designers or owners, rather the men and women (and, if sufficient vintage, children) who toiled in the mills and factories.
The interior of the Café is of a simple design, if not complex in function.
The entrance transitions by way of a vestibule which has one bench on the left wall and a cigarette machine on the right (on top of which is a collection of reading materials surreptitiously deposited by representatives of the local tourism board and the Church(s) of: Latter Day Saints, Scientology and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Being the embodiment of eclecticism they are left un-molested.
Inside: the right-hand wall is pretty much one long bar, (with a door to the kitchen in the middle of the row of liquor bottles). At the far end of the bar is a semi-dark hallway leading to the right.
The rest of the Bistro, opposite the bar, is open floor space (with 15 foot ceilings) filled with round tables and spindle-wood chairs. About in the middle of the right-hand wall of this area is a small stage. Opposite the wall is a crenelated run of columns (supporting the hewn oak beams) and the resulting alcoves, are the most coveted of spaces in the public area.
If you choose to visit, if only for six minutes, do not be surprised to run into the Gatekeeper (Nick) or the BarTender or Mimi or Ford or Chris. The tall, thin man is there almost always.
oh yeah, if the schedule is such, you might see Tom in the kitchen. Jenne, usually found in an alcove all the way at the far end (look for the purple veil) is on sabbatical..