20070716

Caffeine Fantasy

by Sondra Harris

I walk into Geo's Coffee and Book Shop; as usual, the barista greets me by my first name, takes my cup down from its place on the shelf of "regulars," and begins preparing my morning brew to my preference. I take a one-chair table close to the counter and turn on my laptop. Glancing casually to my right as one of the other baristas walks past, I see another customer sipping from a Geo's High Octane Morning-Starter cup and snickering over a book. She realizes she's been noticed and apologizes for laughing out loud in public, but the book is funny and she thinks she wants to be friends with the author. I smile without speaking – I want to tell her who I am and I am scared at the same time, but then the barista puts my mug and my water bottle in front of me and says, "Here you go, Sondra," and the customer instantly flips the book shut onto her finger, looks at the cover, looks at me, and gasps, "Oh, my, are you ..." The above isn't true yet, so maybe I should think about leaving a copy in the coffee shop.

6S

Sondra Harris lives in Connecticut, where she bides her time at her day job (which she does love, but would far rather be writing full time) till she becomes successful. She is the author of the book Getting My Think On and more of her work may be found at her website.