The Bradbury Chronicles

The Storyteller

         “I guess I ought to start at the beginning when my whole world changed on that fateful night.”

         His companion nodded absently; their attention still trained on their cell phone.

         Not to be deterred by this, Dieter continued.

         “You see, it had been raining that night, and I was stuck inside the grocery store with no umbrella. Man, it was storming like crazy. You could barely see two feet in front of you. I was scared there was going to be a flood, you know?”

         “Mmmmhmm.”

         “And then, just when I was thinking I was never going to make it home, this girl…I mean she was the most stunning thing you’ve ever seen, comes up to me and asks – ‘do you want to share an umbrella?’ – just like that. Can you believe it? Now, I ask myself, why would a beautiful lady like this come up to an ordinary guy like me and offer me an umbrella? It didn’t make sense, know what I mean?”

         “Mm…”

         “So, then we head out right, and I have to hold the umbrella because she’s shorter than me and all, but get this, this chick hangs on to me – like clinging, you know? Anyone looking at us would think we’ve been dating for a good while. Haha! It was pretty funny the looks we got, but I didn’t give a shit. I was in love, and this chick was fine as heck. Anyway, we get to the bus stop, and I’m thinking, ‘okay, this is where we say our goodbyes, right?’, but then she leans down and kisses me on the cheek; like…whoa! Where did that come from?”

         “How did she lean down to kiss you on the cheek?”

         “Huh?”

         “You said she was shorter than you, Dieter, then how come she’s suddenly leaning down to kiss you? Did she become a giant on the way to the bus stop?”

         Dieter waved a hand in dismissal. “She had climbed the bench. She was a free spirit. Did whatever she wanted, and she just climbed on it and leaned down to kiss me.”

         His companion finally looked up, but only enough to raise a brow before looking down again at the device.

         Dieter cleared his throat. “Well, short or tall, she was into me. She then says ‘I want to come over to your place’, and now I’m thinking maybe this chick is a hooker, right? That’s got to be it. She just happened to find a sucker in the grocery store and decided this was her night to get lucky. Well, I wasn’t going to let her con me like that, so I says to her, ‘listen, sweetheart, I am married with two kids. What makes you think I’m going to let you come to my house?’

         His companion scoffed and shook their head lightly; still not looking up, though there was now a wry smile on their lips.

         Dieter forged on. “She stepped back, right? Looked like I’d just punched her in the gut. Then she starts crying and carrying on, making a scene, right? Man, you should have seen the way she was acting. She even started throwing herself on the ground, saying she loved me so much, she couldn’t stand it. I mean this crazy lady was rolling around in the dirt, it was embarrassing.”

         “Must have gotten her clothes wet, huh?”

         “What’s that?” Dieter asked.

         His companion repeated the question. “I said, since it was raining so hard you could barely see two feet in front of you, I guess the crazy lady rolled around on the wet ground, yeah? Must have gotten pretty dirty and wet as hell, right?”

         Dieter was stumped again. He scowled and tapped his fingers restlessly on the table. “I know that. It’s why the whole thing was crazy. Why would she act like that in that weather? You know what? Maybe it is because of the weather. Rain tends to make some women act like they’re on their periods, you know?”

         “All right, I’ve heard enough.”

         Dieter pouted as his companion rose to their feet to stare down at him.

         “So, when are you going to come home to your non-existent kids, honey? At least the wife part you got right. I’ll put out the hot plate for you.”

         “…thanks, dear,” came the mumbled reply. His cheeks burned as his wife placed a tender kiss on it before leaving the café where they usually spent at least an hour a day enjoying the beautiful spring weather.

         He stared around the nearly-empty establishment, musing on how pitiful it was that folks these days could not understand the beauty in storytelling. His wife did her best to indulge him with his make-believe scenarios where he was either a dashing Casanova wooing all the famous female celebrities in the world, or some swashbuckling knight who was reincarnated but could still remember all the battles he’d been engaged in during Europe’s turbulent warring era. It was probably one of the reasons why she had fallen in love with him, though he did have to worry if he was now becoming too repetitive. She barely listened these days and once she had actually dozed off in the middle of his rather interesting – if he did say so himself – tale about his journey to Mount Everest.

         Shame. It had one hell of a finale that one.

         The door to the café chimed, and Dieter looked up to see two new faces. They were clearly tourists and Americans at that. He grinned.

         Perfect.

         Finishing up his coffee, he rose to his feet and approached their table with a warm smile on his visage.

         “Good afternoon, friends,” he introduced himself. “My name is Dieter, and I live in the area. You are going to have the best coffee in all of Marina. Haha. But wait…do you want to hear something really interesting about the coffee? Yes? Well, if you don’t mind me joining you, it all started about two hundred years ago…”





Word Count: 1000