More Notes for the Christian Coffee Shop Novel

A tall woman with dark skin and straight black hair well past her shoulders walked into the Christian coffee shop. She wore tight white jeans, a loose black top and black and white sneakers. Quite the look.

The one-armed barista greeted her and began preparing her order: white chocolate mocha.

Christian rock played softly on the PA.

I sat near the window and dreamed of a reunion with an old friend. I picked up and perused a handout with the title “Relational Vampires.”

The woman launched into a story about her recent attendance at a Pentecostal service that went full tilt with touching, speaking in tongues, wrapping up a sinner in blanket, the works. There was a rock band playing, too! “Sympathy for the Devil” no doubt. No, probably Otis Redding.

The woman wrapped up her story and then gathered up the returnable cans and bottles from the recycling bin. She left the shop and I saw her mount a bicycle with a little trailer full of cans and bottles and ride away. How could I not?

The barista came out from behind the counter with a phone book! He started looking up something. I hadn’t seen anyone use a phone book in 20 years. It was bracing. It was out of time. (Story idea: high tech private detective has to consult a phone book to solve a murder. He’s utterly baffled by the book. It confounds him. He hates it, but the murderer keeps leaving them next to the bodies with exactly one listing circled.)

I took out an Oregon map. Where would I go in 2019? Where had I never been? Where were the compelling and crazy untold stories lurking? I always seem to find them.

I drank my coffee and looked around the coffee shop. My mind drifted back to the possible reunion. It probably wasn’t going to happen.