Brown Coffee

It was as Sasha poured coffee for the girl at the bar that Alex entered the Café,

seating himself two stools down from the girl and plunging immediately into a list of complaints concerning the world and his situation in it; a list of complaints that felt all too familiar to his old friend Sasha, who endured such conversation daily, and it was while Alex was speaking and Sasha was preoccupying half of his mind with something different altogether, that the girl at the breakfast bar, who collected stolen conversations which she jotted into notebooks as a kind of hobby, listened as Sasha said, ‘Alex, you complain daily, this city sends you crazy; you should go back to the country for a while; stop giving me indigestion,’ to which Alex replied (as recorded seconds later by the girl), ‘And how should I go anywhere, I have no money, no car, it’s a hundred kilometres,’ and it was at this point that the girl, whose name was Anna, spoke for the first time that day and said, ‘My sisters boyfriend has a car to sell, I can get it for you.’

Alex turned to the girl who had been sitting silently next to him. Her clothes were the same colour as her coffee, Alex noticed; but Sasha, who was bored of this conversation already, did not notice. ‘I have no money,’ Alex repeated. ‘I know, I have been listening to your conversation’, she said. Alex turned back to Sasha who had wandered to the other end of the bar. ‘I can get you the car without paying for it,’ she said. ‘Borrow it?’ ‘No. Steal it, she said, ‘He won’t notice it’s gone, besides, he is a fool.’ (In truth she was secretly in love with her sister’s boyfriend, who was also called Alex and had a stomach as hard as a brick wall) ‘Why would you steal this car for me?’ Alex looked back at the girl, who responded after a while, ‘Because it would be easy, for a small price.’

The meeting took place the next day, same venue. The girl had already smoked four cigarettes and was lighting the end of her fifth when Alex, who was an excellent timekeeper and kept at least one clock about his person at all times, showed up as the minute and second hands crossed each other over the twelve (or, more accurately the XII ). They left the café, Alex trailing behind her as if on a lead, the girl escorting him down a labyrinth of back streets and stopping next to a parked car, which she then unlocked. ‘This is it?’ Alex asked, rather pleased. ‘No. This is my car.’ Anna got into the car and turned the key in the ignition and so Alex quickly entered the passenger side. ‘So why don’t you just let me borrow this car?’ He asked. ‘Because I don’t know you,’ she said and pulled away from the kerb. On the outskirts of the city, where the roads became pocked with potholes, the car grumbled to a halt in front of a block of garage units. The engine shuddered off and the girl got out. Alex followed her, slamming the passenger door. The girl took a large bundle of keys out of her brown overcoat pocket and flicked through them until she finally thumbed one and flashed a smile. She shook the bunch of keys and jammed her chosen one the garage door. Inside, the square eyes of a dark green Lada greeted them. Or at least, the bonnet was dark green, from this angle the rest of the car appeared to be a different colour. Alex took a step to the side and cocked his head, yes, the rest of the car was a darker shade of blue. ‘This is it?’ He asked. ‘This is a cheap deal, remember that.’ The girl took a cigarette out of the carton and clamped it between her lips. Alex shuffled forwards. ‘Okay. This is okay. It goes, right?’ ‘Yes.’ Alex stepped inside the gloomy space and rested a hand on the bonnet. He suddenly felt like a detective, yes, he imagined saying, the engine is cool. He lifted his hand off and wiped it down the side of his jeans, the bonnet was dusty, the car obviously hadn’t been run in a long while. ‘You sure it goes?’ He repeated. The girl dipped into another of her pockets and took out a single key. ‘Try it.’ The Lada door was already unlocked, Alex sat in the drivers seat and twisted the key in the ignition, sure enough the engine roared into life, suddenly sending an excited tingle up his spine and across his shoulder blades. He pressed the gas pedal, the engine whirred. He shut the engine off and slid the key into his shirt pocket as Anna got into the passenger side. Alex turned to her, ‘Okay, it’s good. What is your price then, cheap, remember?’ The girl slammed her car door shut. ‘I want you to have sex with me.’