Mono Monday : : Portrait

It was really lunchtime. Perhaps that's why this man and I had the coffee house almost to ourselves. I had planned to sit outside, but an extremely chilly breeze made the tables outside unappealing despite the sun and blue sky.

I collected my Aztek Mocha and took the table next to the man who looked up from his computer, gave me a pleasant smile and went back to work. We sat companionably next to each other, each of us intent on our own device. We both jumped when the back door slammed shut with a bang like a gunshot, looked up at each other, smiled a bit sheepishly and subsided again into our virtual bubbles.

When I stood to leave, I couldn't resist a clandestine shot…a quintessential coffee shop fixture….drinking a glass of…orange juice? A pleasant looking man who would probably be an interesting person with whom to strike up a conversation…or would he?