Charlie Cradle's Wonderful Existence: A Novella

by Scott J. Callaway

  Chapter 5

  The brisk autumn wind was especially sharp that evening as Charlie walked to Anna’s Place. It was 5:57 pm and the sun had already begun its descent into the western horizon. Charlie liked this. She liked that the sun had begun to set earlier in the day because of her night owl personality. Her family had often called her strange because she was the type of girl who enjoyed the dark hours of the night and especially rainy days. Her father often teased her about being a vampire of sorts because she didn’t get enough sunshine and spent most of her time locked away reading books. She liked the rainy days because something about cloudy skies and the drizzle of rain felt comforting. She would spend hours sitting along the veranda listening to the rain while doodling on paper or reading, drinking in the calming pitter patter of raindrops as it formed a barrier against the outside world. She had always been awkward, always the clumsy outcast who never fit in. On rainy days, people stayed inside because the fear of getting wet repelled them from interacting with the outside world. On those days, the streets were often mostly empty, and Charlie took comfort in the calming stillness of her rarely quiet world.

  5:59 pm. If Charlie was good for something, it was for always being on time. One of her pet peeves was the lack of punctuality. She stood in front of Anna’s Place with her stomach in knots and she didn’t know whether her teeth chattered from the cold or from being nervous. What if Lisette was working that night? Oh sweet mother of mercy, if so, she would never hear the end of it every time she came for morning coffee. She could already hear the perkiness in Lisette’s voice asking for every single detail.

  6:00 pm. Charlie walked through the front doors and looked around the small café and bookshop for any sign of Rowan. And there he was, waving to her from one of the back tables lined up against the large window. She took one last, deep breath, gathered her courage and went on to sit with him.

  “6 o’clock right on the dial,” said Rowan, smiling. “I couldn’t have timed that better myself. I’m glad we could see each other.”

  “It’s a gift,” said Charlie, taking a seat next to him and removing her mittens and scarf, “or maybe an obsessive compulsive disorder regarding time. I’ve never really figured out which one.”

  “You ready for our Wednesday evening fun and spectacular LOLcat extravaganza? I think I’d like to order a coffee while I set up my laptop. What you are craving? My treat.”

  “You don’t have to do that for me. I can pay for my own.”

  “Please, I insist,” said Rowan, smiling so brightly and irresistibly that Charlie couldn’t bring herself to say no.

  “Um… all right,” said Charlie. “I’ll have a regular with one cream and two sugars.”

  “Okay - one cream and two sugars coming right up.”

  Rowan stood and approached the front counter to put in their order. While he was away, Charlie took the liberty of removing her coat and hat and got comfortable. However, when she glanced over at Rowan and noticed who it was that was taking their order, Charlie felt like instantly shrinking in her seat. Lisette noticed her right away and waved at her with great enthusiasm, pointing at Rowan as he walked away and feigning a heart melting faint. Obviously, whatever god that looked down on her tonight decided that the embarrassment of being on her first date wasn’t near enough.

  “Great,” said Rowan, cheerful and taking his seat, “Coffee’s being prepared and the woman at the counter offered to bring it over to us once it’s finished. She seems nice.”

  “A bright dose of sunshine,” said Charlie.

  “So what have you been up to since the other day? Have you dropped off a resume at any of the local barber shops? Because you definitely show potential in trimming men’s beards.”

  “Yes, actually. But none of them seemed too eager to replace scissors with swords.”

  “Give it time. With a few more years of technological evolution, you’ll be giving men the closest shave of their lives.”

  “Nice pun,” said Charlie, grinning.

  Rowan shrugged his shoulders and smiled.

  Now coming over from the main counter carrying two hot beverages on a round tray, Lisette interrupted their conversation to give them their drinks. She especially looked at Charlie with more than just a touch of subtle excitement.

  “Here’s one spiced pumpkin café mocha for the handsome gentleman,” said Lisette, the tone of her voice giving Charlie a verbal high five, “and one regular coffee with one cream and two sugars for the lucky lady. Charlie Cradle, you never told me you had such a cute friend! How long have the both of you been dating?”

  Charlie tried to answer her to tell her that they weren’t dating, that they had just met and decided to get together tonight. But her body did that really annoying thing whenever she got embarrassed and fought against her desire to explain herself. Then, to her surprise, Rowan answered for her and his response made her feel kind of good.

  “This is our first date, actually,” said Rowan, smiling at Charlie. “Charlie and I only just met a couple of days ago after she impressed me with her swordsmanship. You should see her handle a sword. Bearded men should especially think twice before crossing her. After such a display, I just hoped I’d be lucky enough for her to allow me the pleasure of taking her out.”

  Charlie blushed.

  “Oh. My. God,” said Lisette. “That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard! And Charlie, I didn’t know you could use a sword. You are really just full of surprises!”

  “I don’t like to toot my own horn,” said Charlie. “Need to keep a low profile, you know?”

  “Well, there are customers waiting for me by the counter so I better get back to work. You two enjoy the rest of your night!” As Lisette walked away, she turned back to offer Charlie another encouraging smile and winked at her.

  “You two are friends?” asked Rowan.

  “Sort of, I guess,” said Charlie. “I usually stop by here every morning to get coffee on my way to work. She likes to talk.”

  “I noticed. Is she always this happy?”

  “It’s kind of creepy, really. It’s like she cannot understand any other concept other than pure joy. But she’s really sweet, so I like her. Not to mention she makes really good coffee. Except…” Charlie took a sip from her cup, and then another. Something was off. “Except I think she may have forgotten that second packet of sugar. It tastes a little bitter.”

  Charlie looked around the table for any available sugar.

  “I don’t see any packets on the table,” she said. “I’ll be right back. I’ll grab one from the counter.”

  Then, just as she turned her gaze from the table and was about to stand up, Rowan interrupted her.

  “No need,” he said. “There’s some right here.”

  Charlie looked back onto the table to discover that there were, in fact, several small sugar packets in the container that she had just looked inside. This was odd, because just a moment before there had been none at all.

  “That’s weird,” said Charlie, a bit mystified. “I could have sworn I looked in there and found none.”

  “Funny how that happens, eh?” said Rowan, picking up a sugar packet and handed it to her. “Kind of like magic.”

  “Speaking of magic, I can’t stop thinking about the card trick you did the other day. It was so smooth and seamless. How did you do that?”

  “Haven’t you ever heard that magicians never reveal their secrets?”

  “Are you a magician? Your email address is kind of different.”

  “I’ve never performed on stage, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Then in this case, your statement is irrelevant,” said Charlie, smiling and enjoying a small victory. “Are you still going to hold out on me?”

  “All right, you win. But this kind of information doesn’t come cheap.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I can’t just be going revealing my secrets for nothing, now can I?” said Rowan, placing both elbows on the table and l
acing his hands together appearing deep in thought. “Taking every factor into consideration, in this situation, I think maybe a kiss will be sufficient payment for the price of my secret.”

  Rowan’s request took Charlie by utter surprise. One part of her mind said, whoaaaaa there cowboy, while the other part looked into his eyes and admired the blue sunburst reaching out to her, and his short dark hair perfectly framing his handsome face. She had never kissed anyone before and the thought made her so nervous, it was paralyzing. She hardly knew him. In fact, other than the kind of coffee he liked and his interest in LOLcats, she knew next to nothing about him. But she had to admit, those lips looked really hard to resist…

  “Um…” said Charlie, the only thing her mouth allowing her to express.

  Rowan smiled and laughed softly. “I’m sorry if that was too forward for you. I can see that you’re the kind of woman that likes to play hard to get. I can respect that. So, how about I change my offer and ask for a kiss on the cheek instead?”

  “Well,” said Charlie, still nervous of even doing that and thinking very hard on her decision. “Well… all right.”

  Charlie leaned over the table and swiftly pecked Rowan on the cheek. Once she completed her side of the deal, she quickly sat back down and tried not to show her shyness. But Lisette didn’t help in the matter, because when Charlie glanced over at the main counter, she was silently cheering her on while excitedly jumping up and down. Rowan simply looked at her and smiled.

  “Now I guess it’s my turn to hold up to my end of the bargain?” he said.

  Charlie nodded shyly.

  “So, you still want to know how I did that card trick?”

  Charlie nodded again, and Rowan nodded back in response.

  “It’s magic.”

  Charlie continued looking at him expectantly, waiting for him to reveal how he did his trick. Saying “It’s magic” couldn’t have possibly been his answer. But Rowan seemed finished and satisfied with his response, and lifted his cup to his lips to take another sip of his coffee.

  “That’s it?” asked Charlie, disappointedly.

  “What’s it?” asked Rowan.

  “It’s magic?”

  “Yeah – magic.”

  “Come on, I know it’s magic but you still have to tell me how you did it. I held up on my end of the bargain after all.”

  “I’ve already told you,” continued Rowan, sounding as if he was trying to convince her but still maintaining an air of casualness, “it’s magic. That’s the secret.”

  “You’re really going to sit there and try to make me believe you’re not joking? I know it was a sleight of hand and that you’ve obviously practiced it for a long time to make it look that good, but I’d really like to know just how you did it.”

  Charlie wasn’t so much hurt about the fact that he seemed to be intentionally avoiding revealing his secret, but that she agreed to kiss him on the cheek and still he wasn’t telling her how he did it. Sure, it was only a quick peck on the cheek, but even that small act of affection was more than she had ever done with a man. If that was how he was going to act, she was going to make sure not to make the same mistake twice.

  “I’m sorry that you can’t accept my answer,” said Rowan, “but it’s the truth. What else can I say?”

  Charlie sighed and decided to let the conversation drop. If he wanted to act that way and not reveal his secret, then that was just fine. Ultimately, it didn’t matter if she knew or not.

  “So when are we going to look at those cat pictures?” she asked, trying not to let her shift in mood slip through her tone of voice.

  In response, Rowan flipped his laptop to face her and on the display was a picture of a very sad-looking kitten with his head hanging low, captioned with,

  I r sorry…

  U is pretty!

  Still mad?

  Charlie wanted so much to still be mad at him but the picture was so adorably cute that she couldn’t help but smile and laugh out loud. Curse him for using adorable cuteness to win this battle! But really, she was glad. It made her forget all about being angry.

  “I’ve never been on a LOLcat date before,” said Charlie. “Actually, I don’t know if anyone ever has. I almost feel kind of silly that my first date is of looking at funny cat pictures.”

  “This is your first date?” asked Rowan.

  Charlie inwardly cringed at herself for letting that sensitive bit of information slip. She looked at Rowan with an expression that said, I know – pathetic, right?

  “Wow. That’s incredible.”

  “No need to rub it in, okay?”

  “No, I mean that I must be a pretty lucky guy if you’ve chosen me to go on your first date with.”

  Lisette’s perky voice rang in Charlie’s head as her heart made a small summersault in her chest – Oh. My. God. That is the sweetest thing I’ve ever heard! Charlie blushed and smiled at him. She found it amazing how one moment she could be shy, then angry, then completely googly eyed for him. Not for the first time, she wondered how was it possible that a guy like him could genuinely seem to be attracted to a girl like her.

  Charlie and Rowan spent the rest of the evening laughing at funny cat pictures and getting to know each other. This was the first time since she could remember that she spent a night outside of her apartment, especially with someone else. Typically, she would never think of going out for the night. Staying home within the comfort of her personal living space was safe and predictable. She knew how the night would play out and wouldn’t have to worry about the unpredictability of the social world. Things were orderly and in place and it provided all the excitement that she needed. At least, that’s what she told herself. For whatever it was, this was her life.

  But for tonight, she was glad she was with Rowan.

  Whoever he was.