Family Short Story – A LOT CAN HAPPEN OVER COFFEE!!!
A LOT CAN HAPPEN OVER COFFEE!!! - Family Short Story
Rachel, a normal 24 year old New Yorker, trying to make it big in this city, goes to the same cafeteria everyday to pick up the usual bagels and a regular decaf for her boss & while doing all this she always stands there for minute lost in her thoughts, hoping that she will be the editor of the magazine one day & young girls like her will get her coffee one day,
‘’your bagels & coffee ma’am’’…..Ms. six inches’’( since she wears six inch high heels)
“….oh sorry!! Yeah I’m getting late”…takes the coffee & bagels & runs towards her office on the opposite street.
Mr .Woods a retired man having no family in this city is a regular at the coffee shop…it is this shop , his morning coffee, The New York times & these kids running around in a hurry to get the coffee for their bosses, is what keeps him entertained, though he sees the regular people like Rachel coming there & taking coffee for their bosses & always being in a hurry, there is something about Rachel that he finds interesting , that makes her stand out from the rest of the crowd, he knows that she has a certain spark in her that she will make it big someday but there’s something that compels him to find out more about Rachel.
He decides to go there before her & observe her for a few days….April 20, 8:00 a.m, Mr. Woods is late by a minute…. sees her running in those sky high heels, tripping, dropping her bag, files but yet saving the bagels & coffee (well now that is a the best assistant indeed!) so Mr. Woods decides to go early the next morning & sits at the table with his pen & diary 7:58, there comes Rachel asking for her regular take away…Mr. Woods jots down how dedicated & sincere she is but yet that one thing that he sees in her he can’t quite guess it so again next morning he’s back at 7.30 at the table waiting for her, but she never turns up!
So Mr. woods comes next morning but again no signs of Rachel…..he thinks of inquring at her office & goes across the street but the receptionist says there’s no Rachel here thinking of some misunderstanding, he goes to the coffee shop
He asks Ben the guy who keeps Rachel’s take away ready… but Ben starts wondering who is this guy talking about & says he’s not aware of any such girl or any such person who he gives away bagels & decaf at 7.58 daily he shows him his diary in which he describes Rachel as this beautiful 24 year old young & hard working brunette & that how he calls her Ms .six inches always…. but Ben asks him to go away & stop troubling his customers & him (not recollecting any such girl)…Mr. Woods confused, angry, shocked, sad returns to his home, his diary by his side taking a nap on his chair, suddenly a voice calls out to him, ‘’Mr. Woods !Mr. Woods! It’s me Rachel , you were looking out for me right?’’
Mr. Woods gets scared wondering how is the diary talking to him.. Throws his diary…..
‘’don’t be scared I’m Rachel I won’t harm you’’!
… why is that you didn’t go to your office or to the coffee shop today? How come those people don’t know you? Who are you? Why are you doing this to me?.
.. don’t worry Mr.Woods you will get all your answers if you do as I say ,if you go to Denver & meet your daughter tomorrow she’s waiting for you & you too are waiting for her I know
….how do you know about her? I will never talk to her not even over my dead body…. tell me who in the world are you? ‘’Well Mr.Woods the mystery will be revealed once you go there… you know you want to’’
(Mr. Woods had cut all his ties with his daughter, because she ran away from college with her boyfriend who Mr. Woods didn’t approve of, it’s been 15 years since he has had any contacts with her whatsoever, Rose his daughter misses him & has tried many times to contact him but no response from his side, she is the only child he has, she has written to him about her big promotion, her 1st car, etc & every little joy but has got no response)
He in turn writes letters to his daughter but has never had the wish to post them because of the embarrassment he had to face due to her. Though deep down he still cries & prays for her.
He gets a call from his doctor ( on April 19 he had gone through some tests & it showed he’s suffering from the last stage of cancer) saying that his condition is worsening day by day & he has no more than a month or two to live & fulfil all his wishes…. he breaks down though there’s nothing he has to lose it’s Rose that’s on his mind right now he gets the flash back of their happier times…..
‘’Mr. Woods! (the diary shouts out) It’s me again Rachel so are you going to meet her?’’
but who are you (crying) asks her…
‘’just take this trip & you will know exactly who am I’’
… thinking about what the doctor just said… he makes up his mind & leaves to meet Rose…. knowing that she works in this big fashion magazine he goes there.., there is his little Rose, in front of him the 35 year old editor , assistants getting coffee & bagel for her, she sees him & comes running towards him, both break down & go to a small coffee shop that’s right across the office, the owner shouts out
‘’oh! Ms. Six inches, you came today , what a surprise!!”
& I ask her what’s M. Six inches & she says what he witnesses in New York the story of Rachel…. he opens his diary….. there he finds out scribbled
‘’that Rachel was no one but your 24 year old daughter Rose , it was that period you missed out of her’s while she was growing!!! Rachel was no one but his own sub conscious mind creating a picture of his own daughter who he missed so much but never met her & it was the news on April 19 of his cancer that led him to draw up the picture & finally meet his daughter after 15 long years and here is to their new beginnings
A LOT CAN INDEED HAPPEN OVER COFFEE!!!
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