#9  Coffee is the Best Medicine...August 1, 2005

...The Strange Happenings in a Coffee Shop

 

(You may start reading at any point in the story.

It isn't that complicated!)

We ended up on a corner next to the coffee shop waiting for a bus. Alfred paced back and forth, back and forth. Brenda, Rose and Butch watched him with wide eyes, not really seeing anything, I guess, lost in their own thoughts. Apparently they were used to Alfred's excitable ways; I was not. The bus arrived, and we climbed on board.

"I get to sit by the window!" Alfred blurted out. Pushing past Brenda, he took the first window seat available. 

"Alfred, you are so rude!" she snapped, but settled in next to him anyway. 

"I want her to sit next to me," he said, pointing at me. 

Brenda's jaw dropped. I saw and scrambled to save face. "Oh no! There's no need for me to sit next to you, Alfred!" I stammered. "Brenda is just fine."

"Is this trip for me, or isn't it?" he asked.

"Well, it is your trip, to go shopping for a hair piece, but gee..."

"Please sit next to me!"

Brenda got up brushing past me."He's yours, slut!" she said.

Her remark smacked me in the face. I sat next to Alfred without answering. It wasn't my habit to get into conflicts like this, but it occurred to me the constant squabbling might be their way of getting along or even resolving sexual tension. I glanced at Alfred and felt sick thinking of sex and him at the same moment.

"I needed to talk to you in confidence," he whispered in my ear.

"What?"

"I want more than a hair piece. I want a complete makeover. Not my clothes, but my...you know...face and body and stuff."

"Well, Alfred, that costs a lot of money, and it's a major commitment of time and patience. Are you sure you're ready for that?"

"Look at me! Wouldn't you be ready?"

I studied his chrome dome, gawky nose, big ears. "You bet I'd be ready!" I said. "Do you have the money?"

"Yep!" He blushed. "I've been saving since high school."

"Since high school? Alfred, aren't you in your 30's?"  

"I knew since I was a kid  I needed it."

Yes, I guess I would have known, too! I thought. "We're taking Alfred to a special doctor I know!" I announced to the others. And so, the great make-over began...

To be Continued

Copyright 2005 JO Janoski