The sun will be setting soon, and you just missed the last train back home. Great. Looks like you'll have to bunker down somewhere until the next one. As if your day couldn't get any worse...
Ah, well. You're beyond exhausted from all the work you had to do today, so maybe you'll go somewhere cozy, like a coffee shop. Then you could either drown your sorrows in a cup of black coffee, or just doze off until you can catch the next ride home.
Here's a good spot. "The Silver Maple," the sign says above it. Open every day from 11 to 7, cozy interior carved out of fine lumber. There's not enough time to sit around, but certainty enough to at least have your cup of Joe. You open the door and are hit by a light, whimsical breeze of coffee beans, which you sniff before you actually take a step inside.
As you shut the door behind you, a young girl comes up to you. Her dark black hair's neatly tied back with a brown bandanna, complementing the clean and simple uniform of green apron over white shirt. You read the name tag on her apron: "Kari."
"Welcome to the Silver Maple!" she calls with a beaming smile. "You're just in time, you're just in time! Here, come and have a seat inside!"
Her enthusiasm doesn't go unnoticed, but you're a bit too tired to keep up with her speed. You eventually settle down in a chair, situated right across the window. The lighting in here seems darker than you expected, now that you're actually inside, but the sunset seems positioned just right to give you all the light you need here.
"Mr. Chartreuse! Mr. Chartreuse!" Kari yells towards the back of the cafe. "We have one! We have our nightfall visitor!"
"Don't forget to take the order!" An old, grizzly voice responds back. You turn to see a lanky man dressed in a dark brown polo shirt and khakis, face dressed wild silver hair and defined wrinkles. A scar runs down his right eye, leaving it closed shut, but the eye that remained was full of vitality.
He begins a slow walk towards your table. "Do forgive Kari. We're just excited that the fall season is coming up. I'm Raymond Chartreuse, the owner of this establishment." He puts a hand to his chin. "Seems like you've had a rough day, hm? How about a hot mocha, with extra cream?"
You really wanted something darker to drink, but that offer seems too hard to refuse right now.
"Kari, if you could," Chartreuse calls. He's promptly answered with a peppy "Leave it to me!" It's hard to believe somebody could have that much energy this late in the day.
"It might take a while," the man confesses as he turns back to you. "Even though the coming of the fall season is our most exciting time, we're awfully understaffed. Right now, it's just Kari and I, although my nephew Lionel will be arriving to help out soon."
You ask what's the deal with the fall season.
"Ah yes, I neglected to explain that." Chartreuse takes the seat opposite of you. "When the fall season comes, the sunset coincides with the last few minutes of our closing hours. Nightfall, if you will. And that's when the magic of this cafe happens."
He seems to have noticed the skeptical look on your face. "I assure you, it's quite real," he insists. "The Silver Maple is a place of gathering, like any other cafe, but it attracts more than your usual customer, more than the everyday commuter and the loving couple. People from all sorts of places, all walks of life, can find their path through those doors, and it always happens at the brink of nightfall. And every visitor has a wonderful story to tell, and we can spend all night talking about it over good food and drink."
Does that make you their special person, then? But you're just an ordinary person who missed their ride home. "Ah, but I think you're very extraordinary. You'd have to be, to find your way here!"
Kari arrives with your coffee. It's crafted carefully, with the shape of a fern traced in foam at the top of the cup. "That's how it always is here," she says, finding her way in the conversation. "The last customer always has an amazing story!"
"Indeed," Chartreuse says. "Even you had a story when you came in; you missed your train after a rough day and just need a way to wind down. That in itself is remarkable, yes? It speaks of the ever-present need to simply be ourselves after a while."
Kari nods her head enthusiastically, enchanted by Chartreuse's words.
"In any case, if that's wasn't magic enough, why don't you invite some friends and come back sometime around the fall equinox? It's on the 22nd; the day that daytime and nighttime are of equal lengths. From then onward, the night only grows longer, and the magic is more powerful."
You consider those words as you sniff the aroma of your coffee. It's comforting, but in the normal way in which your body would normally crave coffee for its caffeine. Maybe... some sort of spice?
"Mmm! I see you've noticed a twist in our coffee," Chartreuse said. "All of our food and drink here is crafted with the stories told in this cafe in mind. You're smelling the nutmeg, a wonderful little spice. This coffee isn't just for simply winding down; the nutmeg warms you up in a way hot coffee won't, and lets you sit down on a cold night and feel good not just for tonight, but for tomorrow. The essential element we need for a monotonous routine: spice!" He declares this with a bit of a shout, raising his hands in the air, before chuckling and setting them back down on the table. "Of course, I don't typically reveal my recipes so early. You'll have to sample the entire menu to find them all out," he joked.
You take a sip on the coffee, savoring the heat as it mingles with the cream foam at the cup's surface. You take a look out the window.
"Well, I'll let you enjoy your drink on your own," Chartreuse says, getting out of his chair. "Feel free to use our view as long as you like."
You nod and thank him for the hospitality before returning to your musings. Could a simple cafe out here, an unassuming coffee house like this really be that wonderful of a place, at this exact hour? You figure that even though this is a place where stories are shared, remembered fondly over a warm meal, the Silver Maple itself must have its own story.
You make a mental note to return here on the 22nd as you return the cup of coffee to your lips, enjoying the last rays of the sun disappear behind the skyline. The sunset doesn't mean the end of the day here, though. It might be just the beginning.
Ah, well. You're beyond exhausted from all the work you had to do today, so maybe you'll go somewhere cozy, like a coffee shop. Then you could either drown your sorrows in a cup of black coffee, or just doze off until you can catch the next ride home.
Here's a good spot. "The Silver Maple," the sign says above it. Open every day from 11 to 7, cozy interior carved out of fine lumber. There's not enough time to sit around, but certainty enough to at least have your cup of Joe. You open the door and are hit by a light, whimsical breeze of coffee beans, which you sniff before you actually take a step inside.
As you shut the door behind you, a young girl comes up to you. Her dark black hair's neatly tied back with a brown bandanna, complementing the clean and simple uniform of green apron over white shirt. You read the name tag on her apron: "Kari."
"Welcome to the Silver Maple!" she calls with a beaming smile. "You're just in time, you're just in time! Here, come and have a seat inside!"
Her enthusiasm doesn't go unnoticed, but you're a bit too tired to keep up with her speed. You eventually settle down in a chair, situated right across the window. The lighting in here seems darker than you expected, now that you're actually inside, but the sunset seems positioned just right to give you all the light you need here.
"Mr. Chartreuse! Mr. Chartreuse!" Kari yells towards the back of the cafe. "We have one! We have our nightfall visitor!"
"Don't forget to take the order!" An old, grizzly voice responds back. You turn to see a lanky man dressed in a dark brown polo shirt and khakis, face dressed wild silver hair and defined wrinkles. A scar runs down his right eye, leaving it closed shut, but the eye that remained was full of vitality.
He begins a slow walk towards your table. "Do forgive Kari. We're just excited that the fall season is coming up. I'm Raymond Chartreuse, the owner of this establishment." He puts a hand to his chin. "Seems like you've had a rough day, hm? How about a hot mocha, with extra cream?"
You really wanted something darker to drink, but that offer seems too hard to refuse right now.
"Kari, if you could," Chartreuse calls. He's promptly answered with a peppy "Leave it to me!" It's hard to believe somebody could have that much energy this late in the day.
"It might take a while," the man confesses as he turns back to you. "Even though the coming of the fall season is our most exciting time, we're awfully understaffed. Right now, it's just Kari and I, although my nephew Lionel will be arriving to help out soon."
You ask what's the deal with the fall season.
"Ah yes, I neglected to explain that." Chartreuse takes the seat opposite of you. "When the fall season comes, the sunset coincides with the last few minutes of our closing hours. Nightfall, if you will. And that's when the magic of this cafe happens."
He seems to have noticed the skeptical look on your face. "I assure you, it's quite real," he insists. "The Silver Maple is a place of gathering, like any other cafe, but it attracts more than your usual customer, more than the everyday commuter and the loving couple. People from all sorts of places, all walks of life, can find their path through those doors, and it always happens at the brink of nightfall. And every visitor has a wonderful story to tell, and we can spend all night talking about it over good food and drink."
Does that make you their special person, then? But you're just an ordinary person who missed their ride home. "Ah, but I think you're very extraordinary. You'd have to be, to find your way here!"
Kari arrives with your coffee. It's crafted carefully, with the shape of a fern traced in foam at the top of the cup. "That's how it always is here," she says, finding her way in the conversation. "The last customer always has an amazing story!"
"Indeed," Chartreuse says. "Even you had a story when you came in; you missed your train after a rough day and just need a way to wind down. That in itself is remarkable, yes? It speaks of the ever-present need to simply be ourselves after a while."
Kari nods her head enthusiastically, enchanted by Chartreuse's words.
"In any case, if that's wasn't magic enough, why don't you invite some friends and come back sometime around the fall equinox? It's on the 22nd; the day that daytime and nighttime are of equal lengths. From then onward, the night only grows longer, and the magic is more powerful."
You consider those words as you sniff the aroma of your coffee. It's comforting, but in the normal way in which your body would normally crave coffee for its caffeine. Maybe... some sort of spice?
"Mmm! I see you've noticed a twist in our coffee," Chartreuse said. "All of our food and drink here is crafted with the stories told in this cafe in mind. You're smelling the nutmeg, a wonderful little spice. This coffee isn't just for simply winding down; the nutmeg warms you up in a way hot coffee won't, and lets you sit down on a cold night and feel good not just for tonight, but for tomorrow. The essential element we need for a monotonous routine: spice!" He declares this with a bit of a shout, raising his hands in the air, before chuckling and setting them back down on the table. "Of course, I don't typically reveal my recipes so early. You'll have to sample the entire menu to find them all out," he joked.
You take a sip on the coffee, savoring the heat as it mingles with the cream foam at the cup's surface. You take a look out the window.
"Well, I'll let you enjoy your drink on your own," Chartreuse says, getting out of his chair. "Feel free to use our view as long as you like."
You nod and thank him for the hospitality before returning to your musings. Could a simple cafe out here, an unassuming coffee house like this really be that wonderful of a place, at this exact hour? You figure that even though this is a place where stories are shared, remembered fondly over a warm meal, the Silver Maple itself must have its own story.
You make a mental note to return here on the 22nd as you return the cup of coffee to your lips, enjoying the last rays of the sun disappear behind the skyline. The sunset doesn't mean the end of the day here, though. It might be just the beginning.