Kick Start
Two Sho(r)t Stories
Ideas pop up when you least expect them.
I was sharing a 100-word story on Notes, gauging how to encourage folk to peek in. I offered a sense that it was a ‘coffee break story’, short form like an espresso, not a frothy cappuccino. It got me thinking about a feature ‘Double Espresso’; two short stories based on the same prompt - one 50-words, the other 100-words. Two short stories … the Double Espresso (or is that two-sho(r)t stories)
Precisely
“Double expresso, mate”.
The barista adjusted his yellow fisherman-style beanie pretentiously. As he stroked his beard, first with one hand, then the other, the tattooed words C-A-F-É and L-I-F-E flashed in front of the customer’s eyes.
“Espresso”, the barista hissed, like steam escaping an outlandishly expensive machine that demanded precision.
There is a lively debate, by all accounts; espresso v expresso. The ‘borrowed’ word for a short coffee is espresso but the notion of a ‘quick’ coffee has allowed expresso to slip in.
It is the norm to say eXpresso in France.
Rules Are Rules
He was old school. Hard-faced, muscled, and highly effective. He worked between traditional lines, first for one family, then another. Messages would be left in his favoured backstreet café, the folded papers held in place by a heavy 1960s Peroni ashtray. They called him Nastro, ‘The Ribbon’, on account of his deftness with the silk he used to squeeze life from his victims. The demands upon him were always urgent, but his rules were inviolable. No cappuccino after 11, and no work until he had finished his second double espresso. For the man in the booth, the clock was ticking.
Café Life. There's a name for my next business endeavour, a Café with a small library/book store, drink coffee and read, have brunch mayhaps, and have some delicious shakshuka.
Love the idea of a Double Espresso feature!