Contrails and those Little Times

“Hi, a large cup of cappuccino please, and make it hurry.” said the woman. “I got some work to do.”

The waitress was clearly not amused, but she said it with a good attitude a waiter, or waitress should had, anyway, “No need to worry about it, miss. It’ll come in a jiffy.”

As soon as the waitress went inside, the woman stared at her notebook, writing something with a quite fantastic speed. Her work taught her that she should not waste her time. Being fast was a virtue, not by being patience. She was deeply engaged until something came thumping her feet. She looked at it – a ball, a toy ball. It looked a little like hers – with the red stripes and blue, and all – the one she had when she was small.

“Miss, I’m sorry.” A voice stopped her daydream. It belonged to a young boy. “Is this your ball?” she asked.

“Yes, miss. It’s mine. I’m sorry for hitting you with that.”

The woman smiled, and gave him the ball. “You know, I had one just like this when I was small.”

The boy returned the smile, but added “it was fun, wasn’t it?”

“What was fun?”

“Playing the ball with your best friends” remarked the boy. The woman watched his face. His eyes were showing that he wanted a reply from her. “Well, yes. It was.”

“How about now?”

“Now? We have work to do. We hardly meet” the woman’s eyes gazed at her computer and the papers on her table as she answered the question.

“Then, I don’t want to work. I want to enjoy my life.”

The woman didn’t say anything. A few moments later, another woman, probably the boy’s mother came, “oh, miss. I’m so sorry. He’s such a naughty boy.”

“Young man, don’t you ever get away from me again.” She turned to the woman. “Did he bother you, miss?”

“No, not at all. He’s a nice kid.” The boy’s mother thanked the woman and took the son. The woman watched at the boy as he walked, throwing the ball up in the air and caught it, again and again. She used to do it when she was a child. Small things like that was fun for a young person. In fact, many small things were fun, even by looking at the sky and figuring out the shapes of the clouds, or tracing the contrails that formed behind the tail of the airplanes.

“Miss, here’s your cappuccino. It’s $3.” The waitress said. No answer, “Miss?”

She was listening. She grabbed a look at the waitress, and then back to her glass table. It has been a long time since she had a nice time of relaxation and enjoyed her cup of coffee. In fact, she was so engrossed with her work that she never even finished the books that she bought years ago. Reading used to be her pleasure. Now, all she read were things related to her work.

The woman waited for while, and then quickly removed all the papers and computer and kept them in her bag. The waitress looked at her, wondering about what she did while waiting for the money. After she had finished keeping her belongings, the woman said, “on a second taught, could you give me toasted chicken schnitzel with extra cheese? I think I will just be a deviant and skip today’s meeting.”

The waitress smiled “coming right up.” And went away but before she went further, she asked a question for clarification, “no need to be in a rush, miss?”

“Nope. I’ll just stay here, sipping my cappuccino.”

She thought that she had never had this kind of satisfying little times since last year.