Coffee Shop Conflict

Every coffee shop had its own type of clique, with its own types of regulars.

Caffè del Corso, more or less across the road from Marilyn’s, was run by some long-distance relatives of Ale. It hadn’t always been a rowdy coffee shop, but, in recent years, some problematic customers had made it so. Mainly due to the evenings - the shop had started staying open ’til later and later, allowing people to get drunker and drunker. The night-time habit then gradually carried on to becoming a morning habit for some.

Amongst them, was the only openly lesbian couple in town, Sofia and Sara. They were lovely, and friends with Uncle Bill, but when Sara got drunk and Sofia got tipsy, they’d fight. It had happened more than once that elders had had to split them up, once fists started flying.

Last night had been one of those times. By the end of it, Sofia, who was slightly younger, went home, leaving Sara to spend the night outdoors.

On my way to Marilyn’s, I saw her sleeping on one of the café’s chairs out front. Luckily, with it being full-on spring, it hadn’t been that cold overnight. The owners of the shop were just working around her now.

I was concerned for Sara. It seemed that her fights with Sofia were worsening, as time went on. I’d never actually spoken to her, or her girlfriend, but I observed them, as I did with everyone. Being out of the closet in Italy must’ve been so hard, and it was visible in their general tension - they were always expecting the worst from those around them and, unfortunately, very justified in doing so. Italians weren’t exactly known for being sensitive. It seemed to me, from the outside, that they were taking that tension out on each other. But again, it was none of my business.

I made the bell above Marilyn’s door chime.

“’Giorno!” my cousin beamed “The usual?”

“Yeah, thanks”

I put my stuff down and prepared to analyse more of Buson’s haikus. Ìspirah’s comments had made me want to revisit his poetry and-

“Good morning, Michael”

Speak of the devil.

Ìspirah put my order on the table.

“Buson, again? I thought you’d already written about him”

“Yes, but I, uh-” Jeff’s insinuations came to mind and I choked up “I thought I’d re-explore some of his work”

“Oh, nice! How so?”

“Well, your analysis of your favourite piece made me think that I might have missed out on other interpretations, so here I am” I found myself adding a weak laugh at the end.

“Really?” she grinned with unexpected zeal “I’m glad to have been of use! How are you gonna go on about it?”

Gosh, so many more questions than what I was used to.

“I want to put more thought into the imagery he mentions, and possibly make a list of features I should look more into”

“Got it, sounds great” she put her tray on her hip “Let me know if you find anything new, then!”

Before I could answer, she walked off, leaving me to be the only one who heard myself mumble-

“Sure, will do”

I was unsure of how I felt in that moment, but I needed to shake it off. It was just Jeff’s comments getting to me. I had work to do, I needed to focus.

An hour went by and I was finally back in the zone I needed to be, in order to be productive-

Marilyn’s front door burst open.

It was Sara - she’d woken up and reeked of alcohol.

“Where’s that figlia di troia?!” she barked across the shop “Where is she, little bitch… You!”

Her furious gaze landed on Lillian. She stumbled her way to the till, bumping into a few chairs. My cousin paled.

“You’re the reason Sofia’s pissed at me!” Sara wouldn’t stop screaming “The fuck do you think you are?!”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about” Lils squeaked.

“At The Rose! Puttana!”

Lillian went to that gay bar in Magenta whenever she had a night off - I hadn’t realised she was acquainted with Sara and Sofia that way.

“You told her some bullshit about me not treating her right! About her deserving better than me and my problems! Well, I’ll give you some fucking problems you greedy little liar!” she started waving her arms around, making mugs and glasses clash and shatter all around “You think you can get whatever you want?! Stay in your lane, you cock-sucker!”

She pushed my cousin to the ground and slammed her into the bottom shelves.

Ìspirah and I both jumped up to intervene. It all happened so quickly.

“Get off of her!” I tried to pull Sara away from one side and Ìspirah tried from the other. She wasn’t exactly lightweight, though.

Ìspirah grabbed the arm I had grasped and yanked it from me “That’s enough!” and in a swift movement she’d flattened Sara onto the floor, surrounded by shards of glass and ceramic.

In a split second, I assessed that somehow Ìspirah had Sara under control and I threw my arms around my cousin. She was in tears, bleeding where the shards had scratched her.

“It’s ok, just breathe for now”

I kissed her forehead and grabbed the first aid kit they kept behind the bar.

Sara was struggling under Ìspirah’s hold.

“Michael,” Ìspirah uttered, eyes aflame “what do we do with her?”

“I’ll call the police in a second, hold her there”

I started disinfecting some of the bigger scratches on Lillian’s arms, she was shaking.

“You’re going to be ok” I whispered to her “It’s over now”

“Don’t you dare call the police on me, frocetto!” Sara yelled from the floor “You’ll see what I do to you next!”

“Hush it, hun” Ìspirah deadpanned “Touch Michael, or Lillian, and you’ll have to deal with me”

“I could take you down, biondina!” she tried to free herself, again.

“I can see that” Ìspirah retorted sharply, unimpressed. She moved her attention to Lillian, who still hadn’t said a word “How are you? Do you think you can get up?”

As I finished putting one last band-aid on her, my cousin nodded. I slowly helped her across the shard cemetery and around Sara. That was when I realised that, since part of Marilyn’s uniform consisted of a skirt, Lillian’s legs were bleeding, too.

I sat her down at the closest table.

“I’ll get the other scratches as soon as I can. Take deep breaths in the meantime. Remember, eight seconds in and six seconds out”

The police appeared within minutes from my call and took Sara from under Ìspirah.

“How were you holding her down-?! Santo cielo!” Luciana, one of our local policewomen, was struggling to keep a hold of Sara on her own “Giorgio, get over here!” Another shorter officer, with a thick moustache, trotted his way over to help his colleague.

“You cunts! You’re all cunts!” Sara would not stop barking “You don’t know me!”

Another officer was talking to Lillian, taking notes on what had happened. While I spoke to Luciana, Ìspirah was sweeping up the mess behind the bar.

Once all of the officers left, I deeply inhaled and let out a sigh. Ìspirah had finished cleaning and had disappeared into the stock room, retrieving the spare glasses and mugs, which we kept for much more innocuous accidents.

I fetched the first aid kit again and got to disinfecting my cousin’s legs.

“Thanks, Mikey” she mumbled, still pale.

“It’s ok, you’re safe”

“But, what if she comes back?!” she panicked “What if she comes looking for me at The Rose?! Or, if she follows me, or-”

“That won’t happen, I’ll make sure of it” Ìspirah stated matter-of-factly, as she placed the spares behind bar “If she even tries getting close to you ever again, I’ll stop her before you have the chance to notice her” she motioned a mug in my direction “Same goes for you, Michael”

My heart skipped a beat.

I had just finished patching up my cousin, when Viola and Cri walked in for their shifts, bell chiming.

“Yo, losers! You’re free to go!” but then, Viola took one look at Lillian “Holy fuck! Lils, what the hell happened?!”

My cousin gazed up at her best friend and launched herself into her arms, crying her eyes out all over again.

“What happened?” Cri insisted, rubbing Lillian’s back “Michael?” she looked at me, expecting an explanation.

I told them everything and, after calming Viola down from going on a murderous rampage, Cri took Lillian to mamy’s apartment upstairs, to keep her close by.

Collecting my things, I decided I’d wait for Ìspirah to change out of her uniform. As I posted myself at the front door, another two customers entered and made themselves at home, unaware of the mayhem they’d just missed out on.

When Ìspirah came out, she looked tenser than I’d ever seen her.

She gave me an inquisitive look.

“I think a conversation is needed-” I took a step towards her “-if you don’t have anywhere urgent to be”

She nodded in return.

“Of course”

…….

Ìspirah and I sat on a bench at the park, in silence - I was still processing everything that had happened.

I didn’t know where to begin.

“Are you ok, Michael?” she startled me out of my thoughts.

“Well, uh, yeah, I-”

I took a moment to breathe.

“What I want to say is, thank you. I don’t know how you managed to get Sara off of Lillian like that, but I’m glad you were there to help. I am positive that I would not have been able to do that on my own”

“It’s nothing, really” she shrugged “It’s my duty - I’m glad I was there, too”

“‘Duty’ is an unusual way to put it”

Ìspirah’s eyes widened.

“I mean, as a person. To another person. I mean, Lillian’s family gave me a job. Intervening during an emergency is the least I can do! Right?”

“I suppose so” something was off, I let it slide “But, I’m pretty sure ‘fighting off random attackers’ wasn’t in the job description when you signed up for waitressing”

She guffawed at that.

“You know about martial arts and self defence, as well” I continued “I feel like I should be more surprised than I currently am”

“Hah, well, back home they would train us for all sorts of things. Combat was just one of things we had to do”

“I didn’t know training and fighting were such big things in Sweden”

“They aren’t”

“Oh”

She didn’t add anything else.

I wanted to know more. It really wasn’t any of my business, though. If she didn’t want to share her past, that was up to her.

My priority, in that moment, was my cousin’s state of mind anyway.

“Well, thank you again, Ìspirah. I really appreciate what you did for Lillian. But, I think I’m gonna go check on her now. And, uh-” before I knew it, I found myself adding “I would really love to speak to you more often like this, one on one, if you’d like to”

When I realised what I’d said, Jeff’s comments bubbled up again. My heartbeat accelerated - I had never invited someone to spend more time with me before.

“I’d like that, Michael” she didn’t seem to think much of it “Just let me know when you want to hang out. I know you have your routines”

“That’s very considerate of you. I, uh, will! Let you know, that is”

“You know where to find my shifts, right?”

“Yes, I do”

“Then, it’s settled” she grinned “Good luck with Lillian, I hope she comes out of this ok”

I nodded and got up to head back to Marilyn’s, while Ìspirah stayed on the bench.

On my way out of the park, a squirrel passed me by, running between my feet. I followed its trail and found myself looking at Ìspirah one last time. The squirrel had stopped in front of her and she murmured something to it, but the critter quickly ran away.

Everything about her was odd. Not just in a ‘she’s new in town’ way, but in a ‘I have no idea what to make of her’ way.

I smiled to myself - Jeff was never going to let me off the hook.