Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
This is the Doctrine’s contribution to the Six Sentence Story bloghop.
Hosted by Denise, constrained by a sentence limit (high and low) of six, there are worse ways to spend the remaining time you have on earth.
Prompt word:
MARK
The Six Sentence Café & Bistro, in the middle of a weekday afternoon, is not that different from any other café or bistro, bar or, for that matter, big city hospital Emergency Room; open whenever the need arose, (for a café or bistro, a bar or trauma care), always ready to provide for the thirsty, hungry, desperate and/or dying who might happen to cross it’s threshold.
“Miz. Grover, what a unexpected pleasure!”
The tall, thin man, wearing mid-grey worsted wool trousers from Dege & Skinner, a blue, button-down shirt courtesy of Turnbull & Asser and an apron from one of Mimi’s nephews (who owned a successful rib joint in NOLA), stood behind the bar that ran down the right-side of the room from just inside the entry vestibule; the lighting hijacked the colors of the liquor bottles lining the shelves behind him, while a solitary Tensor lamp at the cash register supplied a reassuring, if not monochromatic contrast; most men, the majority of women and all the undecided who happened into the Bistro at this moment could not help but be impressed, if not a little intimidated by him.
“Please, call me Hazel.”
The woman, single mother and part-time receptionist-slash-admin for Desiderata Investigations and Conflict Resolution, Ian Devereaux’s detective agency, was dressed less for what circumstances she expected when starting the day and more for how she felt at the time; of those she interacted with in a typical workday which could range from lawyers to college professors, hookers, waitresses and business owners, all would remember her at the end of their day.
“What can I do… Would you happen to…” the spontaneous two-person interlocutory collision left the woman and the man standing next to the remains of their questions; the only marks on the victims: a sharpening of one’s gaze and a hint of a smile on the other as they resumed their interaction without feeling the need to involve the authorities.
About clarkscottroger
Hazel at the Cafe? As a woman used to having doors always opened for her, why shouldn’t she run into the tall, thin man her first visit!
Enjoyed your opening sentence, ‘cuz ya know, it’s true.
Fun scene.
yeah… damn straight
I like the unusual ending about feeling no need to involve the authorities. I wonder what Hazel was doing there, but I imagine we will find out soon.
well, seeing how you’re the first to wonder, I’ll invite you to do a walk-on next week. (One of your characters, if I recall, visited the Café a couple of years ago, only stayed a moment, straightened out the literature that was stacked on the cigarette machine in the vestibule… but, I will leave the next installment (of this narrative undisturbed until next week)
I like this sentence – “the man standing next to the remains of their questions; the only marks on the victims”.
thank you, Reena
I wanna know what she is doing there in the middle of the afternoon too!
ah ha!
(Don’t tell anyone I said anything, but! (and this is not you, it’s the intrinsic weakness in trying to write three (now four) inter-related stories/narratives) even being a part-time admin, Hazel remembered something that Ian forgot, but knew that he was planning to go to the airport after leaving Leanne’s so, being the ever-resourceful secretary (kinda a cross between a young Katherine Hepburn and Emily Blunt)
In any event, if you feel you’d like to ask that question directly, feel free to do a ‘walk-on’ next week.
The middle of the afternoon, eh? I’m suddenly feeling rather warm… must be that song just down there.
lol ya think?
I can totally see my nephew (or my #2 Son) with a rib joint. Grandpa taught all the guys in the family the grilling secrets.
(the fun of imaginary reality-based fiction)
Two things: that’s one my favourite songs, and the other thing is these two are a
syzygy! This is a fun episode.
thanka! (for the syzgy reference)
An ‘interlocutory collision’ (nice one!) that’s left us with two unanswered questions, interesting.
Don’t tell anyone, but I figure the more unanswered questions the greater the chance I’ll have the time to come up with a plot