I First Spot Dace

I first spot Dace in Concon’s Café, which is a coffee house that looks like a wooden den in a parade of shops along a main road in Combo. It sits amid a West Indian restaurant and an electrical repairs shop. He’s sitting with an old man who he obviously does not know and they are not talking, just drinking coffee. Well, Dace is, the old man is reading a book. I can’t see the title. I come in and order a beer (it’s a bar, too), and stand at the bar. The woman is very friendly and I know, if I want to, which I don’t, I could have sex with her in an hour or two. I’m interested in Dace, who sips coffee and stares at the old man’s book. Not the old man, the book. I wonder whether he can see the title. The way he keeps staring at it indicates that he cannot, but that he wants to, like me.  

There is a dog roaming around the café. No one thinks this is strange. The place has a certain family feel to it. It’s a local haunt. Not many outsiders come in here. I feel welcome, though. It’s a friendly place. The dog runs between tables and sniffs. The dog is wet. It’s not raining. Neither has it been. The football is on. I have my back to the football now as I look away from the bar, because the flirting woman has become obvious and she is seeking clarification, which I cannot bear. I’m not given to such explicit advances. She makes me nervous. I am not a football man.

It becomes obvious that the dog is Dace’s dog. He has brought it in with him. It keeps on running back to Dace as if seeking approval of further exploring. The way Dace is sitting looking at the man’s book, not at the man, not engaging, but simply sitting relaxed makes this place seem like his home; doubly so with the dog being around.

When I turn to inspect what the flirting woman is up to, I see her looking at Dace. I expect Dace has slept with her. There are five customers. I make an assumption that the bar girl has slept with many of the local men and that she is a lonely woman. Then rebuke myself and abandon the assumption. Quickly I check out her make-up and re-establish the assumption. I realise I’m bored. I want Dace to do something but he keeps looking at the book, occasionally searching out his dog and smiling thinly.

Dace and the dog come here to look at what people are getting up to. Like me, Dace is not interested in the football. Neither is Dace’s dog. Neither is the woman. Dace looks like his dog, as far as a man can look like a dog.    

The door swings wide and a man, who everyone shouts ‘Ted’ at, comes in. Ted’s a well known bloke in here. Of the six people present, four said ‘Ted’ as the man walked in.

Ted goes to the bar and orders a dry white wine and a scone. The bar girl does her usual pouting routine. Ted has definitely slept with her. When she pouts, the bar girl looks like Dace’s dog, but with huge amounts of lipstick on.

The old man closes his book sharply and leaves the café with his head down and Ted, with his white wine and scone, goes to join Dace at Dace’s table. The dog follows him and sits.

It’s then I realise this is Ted Macy, Dace’s co-writer. This is the bloke who keeps Dace in line. I’m too far away to hear the conversation, with the football playing and the clanging from the kitchen - they serve food, and there are two girls eating appetisers nearer to me than are Dace and Ted. Also, the bar girl has started talking to me again. I’m nodding at her even though I don’t know what she’s saying. I’m not listening to her. I’m trying to get a hold of what Dace and Ted are talking about, but they also appear just to be nodding at each other. I hope I’m not nodding my way into a sexual liaison with this girl. She’s looking more and more like Dace’s dog, in make-up.  Let me tell you, she is not my type. I don’t do one night stands, even when I’m on the road. I have a wife. We’re trying for a baby.

I order food to get her off my back and she disappears into the kitchen. She seems to be the only person working at Concon’s Cafe.

Dace and Ted are still nodding, but about what I haven’t yet gathered. The dog appears to be nodding, also. The girls who are having something to eat have got their food and are tucking in. They are nodding at each other and chewing. It seems I am the only customer who is no longer nodding. The girl reappears behind the bar and surprises me. She nods as she gives me my change, and finally again, I nod.

The nodding ceases throughout the cafe and everybody sits motionless. The bar girl - Tara, she said her name was - is silent and still. Dace’s dog sits at the table where the girls eat, sitting still, not nodding, drooling onto the floor. The girls are poised.

The stillness is broken by the arrival of my food and everyone looks at me as I am taken to a table. The table is nowhere near Dace and Ted’s table. I am asked to sit. I have chips, eggs and peas, a house special.

Suddenly the girls are laughing with clear plates. Dace and Ted are guffawing over something, and everyone else, as I peer round, has smiles on their faces. Dace’s dog is running around panting with its tongue hanging out.

I chop into my egg and look up. I can hear someone breathing but no one is close to me. I replace my fork and look behind. Immediately I look away. The flirting bar girl, with her thick bright lipstick, is standing behind, staring at me.

I realise Dace and Ted have left. Dace’s dog has gone. The last of the two girls is just closing the door. A crooked-looking man rolls a cigarette in the corner, but seems miles away. Maybe he’s not even there. It’s misty in here. Wherever Dace has gone, I need to follow him. Fancy my not recognising Ted. It’s misty in here and the windows are gone. She’s still breathing and smiling down at me. I begin to wonder if Dace and Ted were ever in here, whether there was a dog. Those girls seemed strangely absent, come to think of it.

In the corner of the room, the man rolling cigarettes is gone. The flirting girl looks at me. She looks like Dace and Dace’s dog. I think it was the bar girl and me in an empty café. Maybe I am here to stay.       

Reviews

[Nikki Richardson]

I enjoyed this. It was detailed and beautifully written.

[Samantha Lynn]

Nothing wrong with this. Loved it. :)

Great setting, great tones, great moods. everything was great.

Simple amazing. :P lol

[TL Boehm]

love the line, Dace looks like his dog far as any man can look like his dog!. Interesting story you have here.