Tokusatsu Farewell: A moment

Tokusatsu Farewell: A Moment:

Outside the little cafe on Hill street,, the storm raged on, buckets of water, drenching the streets and soaking the New Byzantine banners that draped from every lamppost and building in town. It had been the third day of rainfall, which seemed odd to everyone.

They would all come drenched into the cafe and ask for their usual lattes and sit on the barstools, warming themselves from the heat of the hot drinks. I was always happy to serve them and as always, more customers made the boss happy since it meant more money, a good portion of which was a tribute to the new masters of the Earth, The New Byzantine Imperium.

I had been working at the cafe for as long as I could remember and knew that no matter what happened in the world, people would also always need their coffees and lattes, so for me, there really wasn’t much change there-- that is until the third day of torrential rain.

The door opened and and young man came in, holding his hoodless jacket over his head and stepped inside, soaking wet, raindrops dripping from his clothes. I watched him as he lowered the jacket and I saw his face, his dark skin and dark eyes. I don’t know why, but I felt my heartbeat quicken in my chest, and part of me wanted to cry. I didn’t know why since I had never seen him in my life.

He took a deep breath and walked to a booth near the back window and sat down and hung his head down for a moment and looked out at the rain outside.

I got my pad and pencil ready and I walked to him, trying to stifle the strange feelings I had inside. I cleared my throat as I got to the booth and burbled “Welcome to Hill St,,, I mean New Byzantium Cafe of Hill St. Long Live the Imperium. What can I get for you?”

I had no idea how that first bit got blurted out. Hill Street Cafe?.. For a long moment, nothing seemed to happen except the streams of water cascading in sheets down the window pane. He turned his head to face me and his eyes narrowed and his mouth hung open. I felt something… it was like recognizing someone who had been gone a long time. I wanted to ask but his face fell suddenly as his eyes glanced down towards my name tag.

“Becky” he said in a monotone, then looking back into my eyes.

“Yes sir”, I said, trying not to shake.

His eyes seemed to clear almost like a man waking up from a pleasant dream. “Ummm… yes… I’ll have black coffee please”

Swallowing hard, I scribbled a note on my pad and nodded my head. “Coming right up, sir”

I turned back to the bar and started a fresh brew for him. I put in a double scoop of the darkest blend we had and started the brew. The machine buzzed to life and started soaking into the grounds as hot steam escaped from the top. He always liked his coffee dark and bitter..

Wait… how would I know that? I can’t know that… but.. I do…

I looked back at him; He hadn’t moved an inch. His hands folded in front him as he continued to stare at the window. Everything about him looked so familiar….but this is the first time I had ever met him.

I have heard tales from old friends about past lives and that sometimes you can experience flashbacks of those past lives that occurred some hundreds of thousands of years ago and yet it can seem as if life had only occurred yesterday. Maybe that’s what was happening. He was someone from a previous lifetime. It felt so weird.

The machine beeped as the brew cycle completed. I sighed and grabbed the carafe and poured the black coffee into a small sized cup and brought it back to his booth.

“Here you are, sir”

He turned briefly to face me, picked up the coffee and took a sip and gave me a satisfied smile. “Just the way I like it. Thank you!” he said to me, giving me that familiar crooked smile.

Familiar?

I felt my lips just float upwards all by themselves as a little giggle escaped. “Oh, thank you, sir!” I don’t know why, but it was almost as if I had met some teen heartthrob from a boy band.

He smiled at me some more as he took another sip, then looked down as I sort of lightly bounced my way back to the bar and looked back at him. I think I managed to set the carafe back in its spot, but I wasn't concentrating to hard and I almost dropped it before Melinda, my shift manager stopped me and carefully placed the carafe back onto the warming pad.

“You ready for a break?”, she said

I turned around, almost absent mindedly to face her. Her green eyes looked at me from beneath her strawberry bangs as she shook her head with a smile. “Girl”, she said, putting her hands on my shoulder. “Go take a break. Okay?”

I heard what she had said but it felt as if I was hearing her from the inside of a fishbowl.

“Okay, “ I said, still grinning from ear to ear as she continued to shake her head as she led me by the hand to the back room and had me sit down for a while.

I don't know how long I was there. I just sat there, with my hands holding my chin. I couldn’t tell you what was in the backroom nor did I know what time it was even though there was a fully functioning clock on the wall, ticking away the minutes.

My mind was totally somewhere else…like in his arms… inside the back of limo…chasing each other in a grassy field or taking long walks on a beach at sunset..

“So…Becky”.. Melinda said.. “You good?”

“Ohhhhh yeaahhhhh..” I murmured..

Melinda sighed…”Oh yeah, you’re good alright” she muttered as she left for moment and came back with bottled water.

“Here you go, drink up”

I stared at the drink for a long time. His smiling face seemed to appear in the bottle. I don’t know why.

I suddenly felt a hand on my shoulder and turned again.

“Becky?”

Melinda was staring at me.

“Yes?”, I answered.

“Becky, you haven’t moved from this spot in over an hour. I couldn’t raise you! I almost had to get the paramedics on you. Now I have to ask you.”, she intoned in her most urgent voice. “Are you good?!?”

I looked down for a moment, then I nodded my head. “Yeah, I’m good. Sorry, Melinda.”

Melinda sighed at me and shook her head. “Don’t do that to me again, okay?”

I took a sip from the water and I vigorously nodded my head.

“Okay, Melinda.. I’m good.”

After that incident, I returned to my normal shift and stuck around to help Melinda out since she covered for me.

While I was cleaning up after closing, I went back to the booth where the young man had been sitting and I found a small envelope that had been stuffed into the napkin holder. I opened the napkin holder for its usual refill for the morning and took the envelope for a moment and saw my name on the front. I opened it and inside was a piece of blue cloth or something that like cloth. It looked like a sash from a uniform and with it was a small note that read

"For Shelley”

Outside, the rain had finally stopped and time seemed to hold it's breath.

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