Old Notes (Fiction)

Flaneurism

Chris is approximately twenty two years old. In his freetiem (he avidly pursues the art of unemployment), Chris can be found patrolling the streets of some non-descript urban setting. He likes coffee, not in a freakish amount, but he enjoys the feeling of cool he gets by sitting in cafes doing nothing. It reminds him of smoking, though smoke, in general, is gross. Occassionally he buys candy cigarettes and stands under street lamps. His favorite color is red, because it is shocking. He likes thinking in alliterations and coming up with little poems in his head. Sometimes he sings them, they they are jingles. At one time he had gone to college, but upon graduation, has found his days largely filled with nothing. One is described as follows:

It was a decent spring day. Chris woke up around eight and considered running. Laziness prompted him to stay in his apartment and do a couple push-ups. After breakfast consisting of Orange-Pineapple joice, Ketchup (Heinz), and eggs, and after 3 and a half episodes of Law and Order, Chris decides that he wants coffee. There are three coffee shops that Chris frequents, all within comparable distance. It is 1:17, meaning to him that old Charlie is working at the Quaint, run-down shop near Borders. Chris generally enjoys Charlie's company and his genuine concern over his "young person's life". But Chris saw Charlie yesterday, and their conversation was upsetting, though Chris couldn't remember the specifics. There was also a Starbucks. Usually Chris would walk into a Starbucks with two desires: 1) try something new and 2) cause some mischief. Although he disliked extremist hippies, he still felt that there was something wrong with a coffee shop so blatantly corporate. Two days ago Chris had tried someting new by walking in and ordering the hardest thing to pronounce. It tasted so... off, that it facilitated him to cause mischief by removing an entire dispenser's worth of sugar into his hardy, paper cup.

But then, there was always Elegante's. It tried adopting a latin flare, but succeeded only in playing bossa nova or just foreign music, and having a few treats commonly found in Spain. The walls were bright, bold, solid red, but teh decor was rather sparse. At least one beige leather couch still maintained its springiness, otherwise everything else was noticeably well aged. At 1:17 there would be several (and by that, we mean two) employees working. One would be Zeke, late twenties, muscular, though simultaneously lanky, dark-skinned, and in his late twenties. Of course, the other would be the retainer or Chris's unknown affections. Her name was Jane. She was a twenty-one year old student with an arts major. She was fluent in Japanese and English, apparently. Always wore her hair back for work, but any other time Chris saw her (which had only been once), she let her hair down and put a red beret over her should length, light brunette curls. She had a sharp nose, large brown eyes, and a couple of freckles strategically placed around her face and body. Jane usually wore white tank tops that would show off just a hint of an athletic midriff if it wasn't Elegante's policy to wear a black apron when working.

Her parents were apparently well off, but Jane wanted to be as independent as possible, this involved getting her own job as a barista. She worked nearly everyday, and Chris had the privelage of seeing her four to five times a week. Anymore and he'd feel like a stalker. Although he had entertained the idea of asking her out for coffee, the whole irony of the phrasing seemed too ironic to work. And one friend, a long time ago, had said how a first date should never be to see a moive. With these two plans taken from him, he had waited, slowly gaining a greater understanding of Jane, the youngwoman, and bidded his time until such a time as he had enough confidence to ask her to lunch, or a concert, or some miscellaneous dealie. Chris wasn't that creative, or desperate... yet.

The walk to Elegante's traverses two and a half city blocks, where several small stores are located. THere was a family run show store since 1976. A diner with the classic black and white vinyl floors and the bright red chairs. There was also a little sushi place with a neon sign in front and a bar overlooking some dead fish. An electronic store that sold Tvs and little else. An apartment building, four stories high, decorated with yellow brick, and contained at least one angry, shouty couple. And this was all on the right side of the street, which Chris prefered because of a higher quality sidewalk. Elegante's, of course, fit in with all of this perfectly. Large floor to ceiling windows allowed Chris to notice what was happening inside before he got to the door. Jane was working, alongside Zeke, who was preparing a hot drink and currently adding milk. Upon slipping through the glass door, an authentic brass bell jingled and alerted to his presence, Jane, just completing a transaction at the register, smiled and waved in Chris's direction. Needless to say, Chris was quick to step up to the counter and inquire about her day, yet trying to sound as uncaring as possible. Jane replied that she was having a good day, but that she was really nervous for the art show she was presenting at a local gallery. Chris asked hwenn and where, and promised he'd go, and Jane thanked him profusely.

With nothing else to say, Chris racked his brain and still couldn't find a decent conversation topic, he ordered a large. He grabbed the only non-fiction book in the small library Elegante's maintained, sat down at a table in the corner, and began to read. For approximately the next two hours, all Chris did was read about Chicago's World Fair, and twice he asked Jane for more coffee. She said it was sad that they weren't better friends because then she'd sneak him a 15% discount. But Chris could tell she wasn't hitting on him, so he managed to react as once aquaintance would to another. At quarter to four, Chris had a change of heart, approaced Jane and said,"-------------------------




There was no finer example of understated beauty than Jane Munroe. More gorgeous people were constantly being harrassed to shout out their atractivity from billboards and television screens.
Jane was still operating on a much smaller scale, delighting the eyes of Elegante's customers and people she passed on the street. She was 5'8'' and wore size 7 shoes, both facts believable because they are average. Jane was incredibly normal, potentially the girl next door without you having to actually live next to her.
Had it been socially acceptable, Chris would have gone to Elegante's to stare at her for hours straight. Indeed he had tried this once, but when she discovered him mindlessly gawking, she began a cascade of nervous laughter.