When his alarm went off at four thirty as usual, Matt decided to head to Robin’s café for something to help him through his day. He dressed in a pair of his flannel lined jeans, a warm red polo shirt and sneakers. He reflected on just how nice it was to be out o the military and self employed. No more uniforms. Well that was one spot of color in an otherwise black day. A short bike ride later and he was down town.
The doorway to “E-brew-llient” opened easily under Matt’s hand. The intoxicating aromas of roasting coffee, fresh baked goods, and exotic spices filled his head and perked up his spirit. It had been a long sleepless night for him filled with fervent prayer and study. There was little ambient light and the place was empty save for two people. The first was Jose, E’s resident volunteer computer geek. He looked to be doing some routine maintenance on one of the eight derelict computers scattered around.
The machines varied in shape, size, color, almost every way but two. The first was that they absolutely screamed. Jose had gutted and rebuilt each one to his specs and on his own dime. All he asked for from Robin in exchange was all the caffeine he could ingest. The second commonality was each one’s nearness to a comfortable chair. Wireless keyboards allowed customers to sip, surf, and sit in absolute comfort. The second person was Robin, the owner. She had started the first pot of the day and hummed randomly while she waited for it to finish.
Jose stood and stretched for all he was worth, yawning and cracking his back mightily. The little Mexican was roughly as wide as he was tall and he sported a three day growth on his face. He was dressed impeccably; in his usual three-piece suit this one a deep maroon. The law firm where he served as the network engineer and all around computer god asked that had a strict dress code, but gave him some leeway as to color choice. He turned to see who it was and grinned. “Matt! What’s happening man? Sit your ass down and I’ll bring you a cup. You look like you could use one.” He went over to Robin.
She was a hair taller than the network engineer and thin almost to the point of frailty. Her skin was the color of a good crema and her short hair was done in tight braids that stuck out in every direction. She handed Jose a thick walled cup filled with fresh, strong coffee and watched Matt grab one of the stiff backed bar stools. “Am I going to have to cut you off? I told you if you didn’t start taking better care of yourself there’d be no more lovin’ from the oven for you.”
“Whoa, whoa.” Matt waived a hand. “I had a rough night. Gang up on me once I finish this.” He gulped down half of it in one draught. It scorched his throat and the bitterness almost set his teeth on edge, but it was heavenly.
Robin walked over and she and Jose took chairs opposite him at the round pub table. “Take your time, baby.” She patted him on the arm and placed a cinnamon scone in front of him. “There’ll be plenty of time to kick your butt.” A warm smile replaced the look of concern on her face, but didn’t touch the worry in her eyes.
His friends waited in silence while he finished his breakfast. Low jazz began to filter from the speakers and the lights came up to comfortable reading level. Jose had rigged the electrical system to go “customer ready” at five thirty on the spot. “Thanks guys. I just had a bit of trouble sleeping last night, that’s all.”
“Oh man, don’t feed us that. It’s not like you can lie to us.” Jose pinched his cheek. “That baby face doesn’t hold secrets well at all. Now fess up before I have to leave.”
“Yeah, it’s time to speak the truth. We know you’ve been up to something. You haven’t darkened my door in a month and you were asleep in church last Sunday. Your snoring wasn’t loud enough to drown out Pastor Chris, but be glad I couldn’t pinch you from the choir loft.” Her smile faded. “Is it the dreams again?”
Matt shook his head. “Thank God, no. There’s just… there’ve been some things that I’ve needed to tend to. Personal things. It’s not over yet, not by a long shot. In fact things are about to get worse and probably won’t get better any time soon.”
“Well Matt,” Jose stood on the rungs of his stool and grabbed Matt by his shoulder, “you know I’ve got your back. You need any help from me all you gotta do is shout.” He sat back down. “If it’s too personal you know I’ll respect that, but nothing you’re gonna say is make me think any less of you.”
“I know man, I know. I know you both love me and I love you too. I guess, well I’m not sure that if I told you what it was all about that you’d believe me. Or if you did it could get you into some trouble. There’s some seriously bad crap out there and I don’t want to get any of it on you guys.” He slumped in his chair.
Jose looked at his watch. “I’d wreck you for that, but I have to run. I’ll let the lovely Mistress Robin here ruin you for saying something like that.” He shook Matt’s hand. “I’m praying for you man. Know that. Feel that.” He patted Robin on the shoulder. “I’ll be back to finish up around lunch.”
They both watched him leave, before either spoke. Robin broke the silence first. “You know I really should cut you off. If you think that we’re not going to believe you or trust you then you have a mighty low opinion of your friends.” She slid her chair around so she was closer and waived him off as he tried to speak. “No, no don’t say anything. The ball’s in my court now. I know you trust us and I know that you know that goes both ways. Whatever you have to say can be said without any fear.” She kissed him on the cheek and sat back.
He looked at her. He loved this woman. One day he really wanted to make her his wife. If that was going to happen then he had to start acting like it. “Alright.” He took her right hand and held it. “You’re both absolutely correct.”
The door opened as two college-age women walked in. They were regulars so Robin’s cry of “Help yourself. I’ll be with you in a minute.” was met with no surprise. They did and she turned back to Matt. “Go on.”
Matt looked at the customers and his brow furrowed. “I don’t think I can go into any details with your right now.” It was his turn to quiet her with a hand. “I will tell you this much. I know that you believe as much as I do that there are some truly evil people in this world and I know that you believe we aren’t alone.” They had had discussions on ghosts, aliens, xenobiology, cryptozoology, and God knew what else. They didn’t see eye to eye on everything, but he knew she had an open mind. Still how did you tell the woman you loved that you’d killed someone the night before?
She nodded her head. “So have you been probed?” Her look stayed deadly serious for a second, before it collapsed into a laugh.
Watching her laugh and knowing the gentle spirit it came from encouraged him to laugh in return. Once they regained there breath he tried again. “No. Not yet anyway. Look, suffice to say for now that I decided to do something about a source of some of this evil and it blew up in my face. I may be in some serious trouble.” They linked fingers.
Robin felt as strongly about Matt as he did about her. Neither had ever said anything about a romantic relationship, perhaps because they both had some serious damage. Whatever the reason now was not the time, but she saw his raw need for support and she sent out as much positive energy as she could. “Let’s talk about it tonight at my place. You be there at eight. You don’t show up and I sick our resident luchador on you.”
They both stood at the same time and hugged. Matt never wanted to let her go, but he had some other business to tend to. He really wanted to talk to Pastor Chris about what had happened, but more importantly about what he saw afterwards. Without any more words he walked out into the still dark world.
