Chapter 13
Chris
I clear up the last few tables and take the plates and glasses through to the back.
It’s midmorning, and the breakfast rush is starting to die down.
By now, most people are wandering around the shops, and we probably won’t get any customers for at least an hour, unless someone pops in for a quick coffee.
I go back into the main room to top up the milk jugs, arranging them on the tables, then take a five-minute break outside to have a cigarette.
I lean back against the glass. Today is grey and rainy, even though we’re well into spring.
This weather always fills me with a strange sadness, brings me down more than usual.
I slowly exhale the smoke and watch people rushing up and down the street, peering every now and again into shop windows.
I put my cigarette out into the ashtray and decide to head back inside to start preparing the sandwiches for lunch, wiping my feet on the doormat as I go in.
But out of the corner of my eye, I make out a familiar figure on the other side of the road.
He turns, confused, from one window to the other, looking inside and then shaking his head. He walks a few paces, then turns back. He stops. Then he retraces the same steps again.
I stand there watching for a few minutes, as he repeats the same movements, then I decide to cross the road.
“Mr O’Connor?” I call.
He stops in his tracks and looks at me, though his eyes are distracted.
“Everything okay?” I ask gently.
“I think so,” he replies, shaking himself from his trance.
“Are you out for a walk?”
“Mmm… maybe…”
I take him carefully by the arm. “Can I get you a coffee or something?” I ask, guiding him towards my café.
“Oh… okay.” He lets me steer him away, but I’m not sure that he knows who I am.
I open the door to the café for him and help him sit at a table near the counter, so I can keep an eye on him. Vic comes over as I’m making him a coffee.
“What’s going on?”
“I don’t know, but he seems confused.”
“Do you think there’s something wrong with him?”
“I have no idea, Vic,” I say, worried.
“Do you think we should call someone?”
“I wouldn’t know who to call. I don’t know his number or where he lives. He comes in sometimes with his wife, and I know Ian and Riley, but I don’t know how to get in contact with any of them.”
“Maybe he just had a moment…”
“Maybe,” I say, unconvinced.
“What shall we do?”
“For now I’ll just take him this coffee,” I say, leaving the counter and heading towards him.
I sit down next to him and hand him the mug.
“Thank you,” he smiles.
“Milk and sugar?”
“Just milk.”
I pour him some milk and stand there watching him in silence for a few minutes, then I decide to investigate.
“So… Where were you off to in the rain there?”
“Oh, well, I…” he stops to think. “I was going somewhere.”
“Sure,” I smile at him, taking his hand; he looks at it for a second, then smiles too.
“Would you like something to eat?”
“No, love, I wouldn’t want to trouble you.”
“It’s no trouble,” I say, getting up. “I’ll bring you a scone, what do you say?”
“That would be lovely. Thank you.”
“I’ll be right back.”
I go quickly over to the counter, where Vic is waiting for me.
“So?”
“I don’t think he has any idea who I am or…where he is,” I say, casting a glance over in his direction. “We should call someone.”
Vic ponders this for a moment, then has an idea. “Riley!” she says, grabbing her phone. “She works at the theatre in town.”
“Right! At the Gate Theatre. We can Google the number.” I scroll through the phone, looking for the right number, then press call.
A man with a high-pitched, kind voice passes her on to me right away.
I explain the situation to her calmly – I don’t want to make her worry – and she tells me she’ll let the family know immediately to come and get him.
She doesn’t offer me an explanation, and I don’t ask. It’s none of my business.
I’ve known the O’Connors for a while. They come into the café every so often, and I’ve got to know Ian and Riley for a few months now, but we’re not close enough for me to ask about something so delicate.
Unfortunately, looking at Mr O’Connor sitting at the table now, so lost and alone, I realise that this is, indeed, one of those situations, and I can’t to anything other than feel my heart restricting a little.