La Cafe Cosa Nostra

Chapter 2

The soft pitter-patter of rain on Annalisa's umbrella accompanied her, along with the bickering of tourists as she evaded them on the narrow sidewalks. Although she hated the crowds and the congested traffic, she loved Seattle, especially the chilling rain and the bitter wind. After walking about fifteen minutes from La Cafe Cosa Nostra, she came to her destination: Elm Street Coffee.

The sign above the door was as red as the umbrella that she carried and was created with mismatching letters as if they were pulled from different signs around the city. The windows were glass, and she could see the shop filled with people as they grappled for cups that were placed at the end of the bar. With a sigh, she folded her umbrella and shook off the rain as she stepped inside.

The store itself was simple, with dark accents of wood that covered the ceiling and floor. Paintings and artworks covered the walls, and they hung between rod iron light fixtures that matched the sign out front. Impressed by their choice of style, she peeked over the shoulders of the many customers as she joined the line to inspect the bar. She could only see the tops of the heads of the three baristas that were working, but she noted the use of the manual espresso machine.

As she examined the shop, her eyes fell upon the crowd around her. It was a diverse mixture of people, with a group of older women huddled around a table in the corner, a mother with two screaming children hanging off her arms, and even a young couple awkwardly giggling at the end of the bar.

When it was her turn to order, she let her eyes fall to the menu that was on the counter in front of the register. She was immediately drawn to the traditional drinks, americano, espresso, latte, cappuccino, macchiato, cortado, and so on. But she noticed that the menu was filled with more than just what she anticipated. There was a second section titled 'specialties' that filled more than half of the page. Based on what she had briefly skimmed, they were radically different than anything she had ever seen. There was the Egg Coffee, The Tonic, Reindeer Cheese Espresso, Lemon Twist, Tim Tam, and many others that made her stomach churn.

"Can I help you decide anything?" She heard a voice ask.

Annalisa lifted her head to find a face that was jarringly familiar. It was the man with the butterfly in his cup.

Her mouth opened and closed with no sound. The man, Stephen if she remembered correctly, laughed and smiled at her. "You work at Cosa Nostra, right?"

She nodded. "Y-yeah, that's me."

"What are you doing here? I wouldn't expect you to be going to a rival store."

Annalisa forced herself to laugh as she felt her chest tighten with nervousness. "I enjoy checking out new stores, its hobby of mine I guess."

Stephen nodded his head enthusiastically. "Yes! That's a big reason why I moved here, because of all of the coffee."

"My family is all here because of the coffee too, it's all everyone seems to talk about." She replied.

"Seems so, since you work at one of the best stores in the area."

"You think?" Annalisa inquired, leaning over the counter. She let her eyes flick over to the vast array of ingredients that they had strewn over the counters; she was on a mission after all.

"Oh yeah! Cosa Nostra is always very precise with everything that you do, very traditional, especially with your in-house coffee."

Annalisa couldn't help but smirk with pride.

"But if I'm being honest," Stephen continued, "It's almost a little too traditional. There's nothing incredibly unique to the store or its menu."