Tales from the Cooinda Cycle: Memory One

“You know the old saying…” The Old Man said to me.

Unsure if I should prompt him for the rest of his thought, a silence took over the room.

“...I forget.” He said finally.

He looked at me strangely, unsure of where and possibly even who he was.

“I gotta get the bus to town soon.” He said, looking at the watch that was not on his wrist.

“Would you like a coffee before you go?” I asked, knowing there was no bus to catch.

He thought for a moment, then pulled a small pile of sachets of artificial sweetener out of his pocket and counted them.

“Will this be enough for one?

The way he asked, his eyes full of memories that he could never retrieve willingly, a sadness took him as he queried the cost of coffee in sweetener sachets.

I felt a surge of pity for The Old Man, I couldn’t imagine being in that state, it was basically the same thing day after day.

In fact, I was sure he and I had this exact conversation before.

“It’s okay, it’s on the house.” I said to him unsure of how to even accept his payment method.

With tears forming in his eyes, he thanked me for the kindness, and then proceeded to take a packet of biscuits from the shelf, open them, and start devouring the lot.

I guess the biscuits are on the house too, I thought.

I placed his coffee down on his table, where he proceeded to tear open three sachets of real sugar and empty them into the coffee and stir. There was no one else in the cafe so I decided to make myself a coffee and join him, I pulled up my stool and sat down.

“What did you used to do for work? I asked.

The question seemed to unsettle him mildly, he looked at me with damp eyes and as he ate a biscuit, he simply said,

“There was an explosion.”

“Where, at work?” I questioned.

I thought he was going to answer, but then he looked out the doorway, down the hall and saw The Young Girl walking past, and he pointed at her.

“I know her.”

“She works here,” I said, “She was sitting with you earlier in here doing a puzzle.”

“Oh, that’s her!” He said, laughing for a moment.

He went all quiet again, staring at the various packets of biscuits and sweets on the shelf to buy.

“It was horrible, she died in that explosion… couldn’t save her.” He said, tears returning to his eyes.

I wanted to know more, was he remembering something that had actually happened, did he think The Young Girl had died now he could no longer see her? I think I had just as many questions as he did about what was happening.

He finished drinking his coffee, slurping up the thick goop of unmixed sugar left at the bottom, then took the packet of biscuits and placed it into his walker’s carry basket.

“Well, can’t sit around all day, the boss will be on our case. Better get back to it.” He said, beginning to stand with the assistance of his walker.

Remembered to take the biscuits, doesn’t know where he is or what year it is, but the biscuits he has covered.

Seeing he was fairly determined to leave this time, I decided not to try and placate him with yet more free coffee, so I rose from my stool, and moved out of the way so he could leave.

“Good to talk, I’ll see you tomorrow?” I said, knowing he would probably be back later today.

“Yeah, alright mate.” He said rather coldly, with a look out the window as he left the cafe.

As I returned behind the counter, he stopped as he was passing the serving window to the outside seating, and taking something from his pocket he reached out towards me.

“That’s for you, mate.” He said with a strange wink, placing something in my hand.

Before I could tell him I couldn’t accept tips, he was already gone, making his way down the corridor with two caps on his head for some reason.

I looked down and saw he had given me two sachets of artificial sweetener, something about the whole transaction left me feeling unnerved and strange. Something that made me believe we had done this whole scene before, many times on other days.

I should never have come here...