When she opened the door, a strange feeling embraced Jord.
Had she been there before? She was unable to retrieve any images or pieces of memories; there was no recollection whatsoever of this place, but she could perceive certain familiarity in it.
Right in front of her, and in the middle of the room , there was a table. It was the only table there, somewhat low and oval shaped. Around it, there were two small garden chairs. The huge cushions covering them looked very comfortable, and so did the small rounded puff placed in between them. Being honest, the choice of colors was not balanced; but it somehow looked well combined.
A garden could be seen at the side of the room, through the large windows that served as walls.
The space around the sole table was very generous; at least four more tables could have been placed there. Jord didn’t understand why such an ample space had been wasted like that.
Now that she was examining the place, she realized that there was nobody else there. She was the only one.
–Welcome to The Blue Trees Café! Please take a seat! – said a voice coming from behind the counter, at the back of the room.
Jord took a seat on one of the garden chairs and looked in the direction of the voice, but could see no one. She lifted herself a few centimeters from the cushion, stretched her neck out, but still could see nobody. She moved her head here and there, searching for the owner of the voice, and nothing.
–Welcome! You are our first customer! How do you like our café?
Jord jumped off the cushion and opened her eyes so widely that they may have fallen out her face.
–Oh.. hi.. b.. but.. how? Where did you…?
Jord couldn’t understand how this petite lady was now standing there, without her having noticed it.
–You look tired. Did you work a lot today? Have you come to try our Special of the Day?
–Well… erm… I… I don’t know … What’s the Special of the Day? -. Jord was still confused. The young lady in front of her would not stop smiling or talking. She was very petite, and her hands were also quite small.
That was something she would always do: look at people’s hands. Probably because of her complex of “chubby fingers”, which had been with her since she was only a 6 years old girl; a consequence of her piano bully classmates. She could still remember those piano lessons. And the never ending painful practice hours too. She could remember her teacher, especially how he would hit her fingers using a wooden stick every time she made a mistake and force her to start the piece all over again. Her mother, after seeing how she would come back to the house crying desperately after her lessons; finally decided to stop sending her. But even then, the bullying she suffered about her hands had already caused deep wounds inside. Wounds that would stick with her from then on.
–Hey! Are you ok? Hello!! Here!! Can you see me?
–Oh, yes, I… I am sorry. My head was stuck in the clouds…
–Oh wow! It must be wonderful to go to the clouds! Do you visit there often?
Jord looked at her and raised an eyebrow
–Don’t worry. I’ll bring you the Special of the Day right away, as you ordered! I’ll be back in 4 minutes! Do you like jazz? Or bossa nova? Ahh… so you are one rock music fan eh?
–Erm…
–Classical music! I knew it! Ok, say no more, it’s coming!
Jord eyes were now excessively open. “But, what is going on here?”
The petite young lady with the lively voice was gone. And now, she could hear the Nocturnal Op 9 No 2 by Chopin, playing in the background.
“Chopin! But… how?! How did she know?”
Jord closed her eyes. She got lost in the music. She let all the tension, all her worries and fears leave her body with every breath. She raised one hand, then the other, and started to interpret the masterpiece on an invisible piano in front of her. A smile shone on her face. She could remember the afternoons, the mornings, the evenings when she would run to seek refuge in this Nocturnal, when she would save herself from her pain by playing this melody. Back then, the Blue Self had not become visible yet. However, sadness was making its way to her core. Except for when she played Chopin. When she played those notes, she could feel the pain evaporating through her skin as if she were sweating it. And that’s exactly what she was doing now. She was playing that invisible piano with the same passion as before.
–Wow! You are so good at playing piano! Did it take you long to learn Chopin? It ain’t an easy one…
Jord opened her eyes again. Excessively. Again. Her hands were hanging frozen in the air, and she was not sure if she should laugh or run away.
–I really like you! I am so happy that you are our first customer! Here is your Special of the Day.
–Erm… th.. thank you! I am sorry but, I don’t think I got what was the Special of the Day about …
–Ah! That’s probably because I explained everything about it to you while you were with your head stuck in the clouds. That’s fine, I’m sure that you being stuck there and so far up from here, it must not have been easy to hear me!
–R.. right!
There was a knock on the garden’s glass window. It sounded as if there was someone there trying to get in. The petite young lady looked to the window, then looked at Jord, smiled at her and left a note on the table.
–What is this? -. Jord grabbed the piece of paper and opened it.
“Instructions for the Special of the Day Remember Me Latte: Drink warm, if you remove the lid from the cup it will be better; that way it gets colder faster. If you drink it too hot you won’t enjoy it, the flavour will take better effect on a sensible palate, and not on a burnt or numb one. Cold is useless, so if you notice it is getting too cold, please put the lid back on. Enjoy!”.
–Excuse me, but…what is this? – Jord lifted her head from the paper.
But the petite young lady was gone. Once more.
“Remember Me Latte. What kind of a name is it? Oh well… whatever!” -. Jord removed the lid off the cup.
4 minutes later, she had her first sip. Not bad. She kept drinking, paying attention to the cup’s temperature and removing and putting back the lid according to the variations.
She gave a glance to her watch. 6 p.m.
She drank her last sip and stood up on the chair. She called the girl, but there was no answer. She waited for 5 minutes, but she still was nowhere to be seen.
“What do I do now?- Jord thought.
She grab the piece of paper that the girl had left on the table before and wrote at the back of it:
“The coffee was delicious. I have to go now; I have been calling you but you are not showing up. Here are some bills, if I owe you more I will pay you next time. Thank you for welcoming me!”. She placed it on the counter.
She walked to the door, put her sunglasses on, opened it and went outside.
“Oh my God” – Jord exclaimed. “Where in the World am I?!”