Yes, words have been happening. Hardly on strike now.
Noooooooooooooo! Don't take my thread name away! I promise I won't write anymore!!!!!
... not really ...
Post!
Take that woman in the far corner. The seat is too small for her, but she sits unconcernedly on her perch. She entered alone, did not appear to be waiting for a companion, yet ordered for two. Then she waited, alternating her gaze between the cakes and (ostentatiously) her pocketwatch.
Then she ate the lot.
As I watched, she picked fussily through the two three-tier plates on her table. Between each cake she would pause and have a silent conversation with herself. No more, that’s enough / but it’s such a waste of money / no, you don’t need it / just one more, a little one can’t hurt / Oh go on then .... It was as though she was expecting someone to approach her (not just in her head but in reality) and tell her to stop eating. She put on the display so that anyone watching would be able to tell that she really did have self control, but there was nothing she could do in the present circumstance. As it happened, no one was watching her. Well, there was me, but the judgmental eyes of a person you can’t see don’t really count, do they? That was me, the person who didn’t count.
I liked the couple at the table by the door. I didn’t know enough about town people to tell whether they were from the town or visiting from the country, but it was clear that they thought the shop was special. They might have been sisters, or perhaps cousins (certainly relations of some type) and they were in Awe. They sat primly at their table, addressed the staff deferentially, and when their food came, they didn’t seem to know what to do with it. They ate the first of their cakes slowly, taking small restrained bites washed down with insipid sips of tea. Then they appeared to sit nervously, as though they though the food would eat them, rather than the more accepted pecking order.
It was only when they took their second cake that I realised what the issue was. They weren’t in awe of the shop, or the food, but the fact that they could eat it – they could eat it all! The look of incredulous glee that stole over their faces when they took the second cake told its own story. It was the expression of one freed from the tyranny of grandmother’s afternoon tea, at which consumption of any edibles marked for your elders (and therefore, presumably, betters) marked you out as a bad girl. My friends at the table had just now learnt that they were now the betters.
10 years ago
Tue Dec 17 2013, 10:50am
I had seen the same look on my cousin’s face the day liberated two rum babas from my grandmother’s dictatorship. We had been eleven at the time, and those cakes were my grandmother’s pride and achievement – not to be consumed by grubby little scrubs such as ourselves. So we had formed a plan of attack. At a garden party, we had scoped out the enemy, and with precise timing, had approached grandmother at her fortress of baked delights.
Ober won't let me post the last bit!
But I want to find out how the cakes get stolen! How rude of Ober.net to deny us these words.
These observation pieces are just gorgeous. I hope you'll keep sharing them with us, Nef.
We got away clear, and the neighbours, who followed us to the table some quarter of an hour later to claim the cakes we had previously claimed on their behalf, were forever stigmatised (behind their backs, of course) as cake stealing cretins.
It works if I type the whole thing, rather than cutting and pasting ...
Cake stealing cretins. Heheheh. You see life very keenly, Nef, and wryly. With the lovely additional benefit that you're able to put it down in words for us all to share.
Mystic Ward
10 years ago
Mystic Ward
Twentyfamilies Gypsy
More awesome Nef writing. Now I really want tea and cake.
Should you perhaps be posting this up in Prodders though?
I've had trouble posting it ANYWHERE - this is the first place that it worked.
Seems like a few people are having trouble posting of late. I wonder what's going on with that.
Hopefully you won't be prevented from sharing more of your writing because I'm enjoying these lovely observational scenes. They remind me a little of Katherine Mansfield's short stories, which I love, too. Have you ever read any of them? I highly recommend them, if not!
Ober has always had this problem actually. We think there is just some sequence of letters or words or something that it doesn't like posting and whatnot when people copy and past stuff in. In only ever seems to happen in these forums when people are trying to post larger chunks of words. There will always just be one section which will stop the post going through.
Ok - prods out tomorrow, if I haven't written anything. 1000 words today is my goal!
I think I'll just pull my prod out now [act]waves menacingly[/act]
Not now - I'm meant to be editing judgments - wait until 6pm!
I had a problem posting up a chunk of writing - I ended up posting another chunk and it worked… seems a bit odd? And I agree, PLEASE do not allow that to stop you from posting up your snippets!
Also loving the snippets of the various visitors of the tea shoppe. So very insightful and interesting.
Keep at it, Nef!! Good job!
ok - I got about 500 words done last night ... and a cake.
Hmm, that is only half of your goal . . . but then again, does cake count towards words?
Slow progress this week - another 300 words. Life is getting in the way ...
That posting thing is so strange! I haven't encountered it yet, so that's something to look forward to.
Huzzah for slow progress! Slow progress is still progress and it should be celebrated with chocolate. Or cheese, depending on preference. Or even better, chocolate cheesecake. Yes, that will do perfectly.