Roux found her way to the Internet Cafe with the help of google maps. So it was up three floors and then several more horizontal escalators later, but because the canopy with the name of the cafe written on it was hidden under a heavy oak tree she couldn’t find it when she looked along the long display of store fronts in front of her. The tree she did see as it left an impression on her. Was it a real tree, she wondered? And looked up in search of sources of photosynthesis. Someone just then at top speed ran right into her and knocked her heavy bag right off her shoulder, sending her off balance so that she fell to the ground.
Whoever it was who slammed into her kept running leaving Roux in a heap on the cement ground.
But that was when she saw the sign:
“Welcome to the Internet Cafe!”
Oh. She saw it now— that she was beneath the branches of the oak tree looking up.
Rubbing her bruised knee she got up from the ground, as nobody bothered to stop to ask what she was doing on the ground, thank god, as maybe that would be worse. She swung her heavy bag back onto her shoulder and walked right to the door of Internet Cafe, swinging it open.
The atmosphere inside was cooler, slightly darker too, with only the slightest hint of music which came from someone playing lightly on a piano. There were interesting neon signs on the walls of each section, and recognizing her favorite genres, Roux headed in the direction of the dark purple and green lava lamps and the koi pools where the music hushed out to silence along the rows of personal booths. Roux found a spot in the corner by the window that overlooked the path to the entrance with a view of the oak tree. From this angle she noticed someone had cut initials into the trunk of the tree.
Then pulled her laptop from her bag and plugged in immediately as this had just given her an idea for something she was writing.
She was about four paragraphs into her writing when a sudden message appeared on her screen
<<hi—can you do me a favor?>>
Roux stared at her computer screen and this new odd message from —? After a moment another message came
<<I was just sitting at that terminal and I think I left my pipe behind>>
At that terminal …. oh—it was a messaging platform through the Internet Cafe she realized looking closer at the pink bubble that the message came in which matched the paper napkins on the table and had the letters Internet Cafe written in tiny letters
In search of —this pipe, Roux looked around at the objects on the table; there was a fake crystal vase with a fake black rose, a fake crystal votive with a lit red candle, a bottle of soy sauce, a bottle of agave, a little crystal holder with packets of sugar, fake sugar, and set of salt and pepper shakers and a shaker with parmesan cheese— concluding her search, she believed, Roux was about to reply that she didn’t see it there—when her shoe came in contact with something on the floor.
She bent down to look at what it was, twisting her body to peak under the table, reaching…. she felt the smooth bowl of a wood pipe under her fingers and grasped it in her fingers.
<<I believe I found your pipe>>
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