My blind customer

chapter 9

edited by OhhPapiHarder

Chapter 9

“You still haven't answered to me why  you keep coming to the cafe. I mean I would expect from you to stay at home and dedicate yourself to your books. I am sure you have deadlines to meet. How do you keep up staying almost all morning in the cafe?

“You always keep your eye on the target aren't you Cupcake? I promised to tell you everything and I will.” He removed his hands from her face and sat back on his chair, his food totally forgotten in front of him.

Nicky looked at him expectantly. She was very excited she would finally find out his secret. She only knew him for a few days, but in her uneventful life, something like that was too intriguing. She fidgeted with her food on her plate, rotating it from one place to the other without really eating anything either. Mike’s sensitive ears caught on that movement and he couldn’t help himself but respond to that.

“I see the food we worked so hard to prepare is actually going to waste since neither of us are eating it...” He commented not really trying to evade her question since he had already told her what he considered his big secret. His professional identity as a writer.

“You are changing the subject again. If you really don’t want to tell me the real reason why you are coming to the cafe, it is alright, I don’t want to put any pressure on you. I mean you already shared a big secret with me. I am positive none of the girls know that you are one of the most famous writers in the country.”

“I wouldn’t go that far appraising me. I am not that good and let’s not forget that we are living in a decade that most people don’t read any books. They prefer watching movies and listening to music. Books are out of fashion. I am certain that even if you mentioned my name your colleagues, none of them would know me.”

“No! That can’t be. Your books are amazing and are adored by many people and especially children!”

“Nah. You are just saying that cause you are obviously one of the leaders of my fan club. You are not objective at all.”

“You’re wrong, I am very objective. I read many books each month and I can assure you, yours are some of the best ones the town’s library has.”

“Wow you are reading a lot. And here I thought I was a regular bookworm. How come you are so different from the rest of the girls your age? Most of them spend their time after work in shopping and partying. How come you prefer to spend it reading?” he was the one to be intrigued this time.

“I’ll tell you if you tell me first.” She retorted and left him speechless. She had totally turned the tables on him.

“OK! Here it goes. Blindness can be quiet limiting. Even though I would love to live a very exciting life and experience many things, I don’t have that opportunity. So I borrow the experiences of the people around me. I come each day and listen to the other customers that come to the cafe and talk to their friends, their family or their lovers and I get ideas for the characters of my books. They talk about their problems, their workplaces, the places they travel or spend their time. All that is a great source of information for me and a great way to stimulate my imagination. They make me travel to worlds and emotions unknown that I share afterwards with my readers. I never put any of the stuff I hear as I hear them. They just inspire me to create new characters and situations my heroes get involved in. You could say that they help me to better understand how the human mind and psyche works. That is why I usually come without anyone else. If I had company with me they would just interrupt my concentration on the people surrounding me.” He waited for her reaction, but got nothing. If he didn’t hear her breathing he would have assumed she had vanished from his house.