Not familiar with the series, but since Ukyou wrote it...

Ukyou Kuonji wrote:

The future is not what we think it is.

You mean it's not ahead and instead behind us? Bugger. Now I'm going to have
to chnage tense in all my setences from now on. :P

In particular, there is a coffeehouse on what may once have been the

outskirts of Yokohama.

But was in fact Toledo, Ohio.

 It may actually be rather charitable to call it a coffeehouse, as it is but
a single room adjoining a larger house.  Only a counter and two tables serve
for the few patrons that may drop by - and there are never enough of them to
fill the room, in any case.

What *does* fill the room, however, is the sunlight of the morning, and

the smell of the coffee beans as they are roasted by hand on the premises.

Juan Valdez was a happy sort of guy.

 The sunlight also coats the outside of the house and shop, turning it a
brilliant white from the road, when in truth, its paint is somewhat
weatherbeaten and worn, when examined closely.  The weathervane on the
corner of the building, a brightly colored fish with odd designs on its
sides and a propeller in its mouth, slowly turns in the cooling weather.
Old it may be, but it is not in disrepair.

After all, its owner may be gone, but it is not unoccupied, it is not out

of business.

[Some years ago, my owner, leaving me in charge of the shop, suddenly left

for somewhere...]

Probably because you talked in brackets. Most annoying. :)

If you visit the place someday, you will receive a friendly, if shy,

greeting from its proprietor, Alpha.  More likely than not, though, she will
join you at your table once you've been served.  Don't turn her away, when
she does.

Or she turns into Omega, and then that'll be the end of everything.

The passage of years has no effect on the Cafe Alpha, nor on its gentle

proprietor.  But the change in season does work its will, and Alpha responds
accordingly.

[It's getting chilly these mornings... it's about time for the fires.]

Robots of our present day and age have a long way to go before there is

any chance of their achieving  anything

extra space

Of course, it may seem a bit strange that tomorrow's robots will make

those adjustments in a surprisingly low-tech way: rather than somehow
radiating heat from themselves, or amplifying solar radiation, they simply
burn scraps.

[I still need to rake up the dry grass around the cafe, though... *that*

should really get something started.]

Yeah. I would say it so. :)

There is a flash of color in the pile of grass.  The occasional dried

leaf, blown over from distant trees, stand out with their browns and oranges
and their rust red hues from the dried-hay yellow of dead grass, but they
are not unexpected.

But this... pink?

Hot pink. A very nocticable color.

the field in search of the source of these petals.

She finds it only a few steps away:  a clutch of flowers hidden in the

tall grass, each bursting into a sphere of color.  Pink, red, yellow,
orange... how could she not have seen them before?  From her crouched
position deep in the grass, she turns back to look.  The Cafe Alpha is
certainly visible, barely ten meters distant.  Is

It

Ojiisan's grin widens.  "Ahh... so, he's already been by?" he asks,

nodding his head toward the flower.

Cute misassumption.

Winded from her failed attempt to catch Ojiisan, Alpha exhales heavily,

hands on her knees.  There is a moment's pause, as she decides that either
nothing is lost by Ojiisan's misunderstanding, or that nothing can be
changed by explaining it to him.  In any case, she returns to her pile of
dried grass and petals.

***

It has been suggested, perhaps only partly in jest, that the destruction

of Western civilization as we know it will come at the hands of our own
paperwork.

I suspect this will be so. Overregulation is a form of slow death.

A scuff of rubber, a spray of pebbles, and the murmur of a mild expletive

mingles with the clatter of the bicycle falling over.  "Hey, Alpha.  Gramps
told me you were gonna start the fire tonight - umph!  there

There

And somewhere, somehow, her owner... her builder... knows this, and

smiles.

***

This was written as an unbirthday present for the Ucchan's resident

firebug, Konatsu-chan.  Thanks to my kunoichi, we rarely have to throw
anything out - it all just goes into the fireplace, just like with Alpha,
here.  After a weekend of cutting wood and raking leaves, and cleaning the
fireplace flue in preparation for the burning season (pity that burning
leaves is illegal here - it comes at a time when one supposes a little
global warming would do some *good*), this story just started to come
together... slowly, just like raking a yard, just like the pace of Yokohama
Kaidashi Kikou.

Reading this, I understand what you wrote and why it came out as it did.
Very nice little moody piece. You provide enough background to get a feel of
the world that YKK takes place in. It definitely works.

This piece probably ought to seal my reputation as a patron of neglected

series;

One of them, anyway. Nice little piece. I enjoyed it.

D.B. Sommer

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