Start time: 8:43 a.m..
He didn’t get a good first impression from the Landlord of the building located on Boylston Street. If it were not for the location of the building, he would have just assumed not work with Mr. Petty, at all. According to Mr. Petty, the current tenant was “on his way out,” and he was willing to work with Charlie on the move in date.
When Charlie first walked up to the front door, he saw that the coffee shop did look open. Sort of. There were lights on, but no open sign. In fact, there was very little signage at all. If not for the address on the door, he might have walked right past the shop. He tried the door and found it to be unlocked. Glancing at his watch, it was just past 9:00 a.m.
The first thing he noticed when we walked in was the warmth and friendliness of the shop. The front part of the shop was light and bright. Next thing was the beautiful aromas of several flavors of freshly brewed coffee and freshly baked pastries.
The counter ran along the full length of the wall on the right. Charlie initially thought there was no one up behind it and as he walked closer to look in the display, a head popped up. A cute, young and wide-eyed face, beginning with a startled expression that turned into a bright smile immediately following with a “Hello there! I didn’t hear the door open! Welcome to our coffee shop!!” He laughed and habitually stuck out his hand to shake hers. “I’m Charlie. Nice to meet you!”
“We’ve got a customer!” she yells to no one in particular. A young man walks out from behind where Charlie assumed to be the kitchen and says mostly to himself, “well, I’ll be damned.” And the fellow just stood there leaning against the wall.
Shaking his hand and simultaneously trying to fix her hair that was haphazardly falling out of a ponytail, the pretty young lady tells Charlie her name is Jackie and that guy back there is Pauly, but he could ignore him because “he’s not all that nice sometimes” she whispered that last part to him.
As if that were his cue, Paully says “Look! A real live midget! Have a look Kevin”. Horrified, Jackie throws the towel at him and tells him to get out from behind her counter.
Charlie laughed it off. It certainly would not be the first time anyone has ever shared their thoughts about his size with him. It had proven to be a great conversation starter that he used many times. Especially around kids and 24-year-olds with little manners, in this case, Pauly.
“Little person. The politically correct word is Little Person.” Phased not at all, Pauly repeats ‘Kev! Check this guy out!”
Looking around to see where this Kevin was, Charlie began to look around the shop. There were stools along Jackie’s counter. There was a section of high tops. Stools along a small bar ran the full length of the window front. In the back half of the shop were sofas and chairs. Lots of them. All spread around into intimate groups with chairs and coffee tables. Books and magazines scattered on each of the tables. All coffee tables were decorated with a variety of small vases, one carnation in each of them. And canvas paintings. On every part of the wall, hung canvas paintings of every color and size. There was a small clearing in the corner that had a microphone, stool, and speakers.
Although he missed Kevin when he first walked in, there he was sitting at one of the high tops in the back, close to the kitchen. Other than Jackie, Paully and himself, Kevin was the only other person in the shop.
Kevin did not look up from what he was working on. Even after Paully’s second announcement regarding Charlie, which made Charlie smile. In front of Kevin were a stack of papers and envelopes spread out on a high top table, a computer and a writing pad. Kevin was working diligently, a pen in his mouth, having a conversation with himself about a late fee that was not fair.
Charlie walked up to the high hop waiting for Kevin to look up from his work. Which he did, but only because he could tell that Charlie wasn’t going to go away.
“Charlie. Nice to meet you”, Charlie says holding his hand out for Kevin to shake. Although, it took long enough for Charlie to look back at Jackie to find her smiling from ear to ear. She gives him a friendly nod and wink, suggesting that Kevin will eventually come around.
“Hey Buddy, how’s it going,” Kevin says, returning the handshake.
And so begins a long friendship between the coffee shop owner and the business guy that just moved into the neighborhood.
finish time: 9:41
Lou Kelly Presents 