Vanessa: Hey Diane!
Diane: Hi Vanessa! How are you?
Vanessa: Good!
Diane: Kitty!*
Vanessa: Kitty!
(*She loves how I say “kitty!” after saying it all week because there was a great picture of a gorgeous cat in that week’s paper, for which we both work, and I’d yell “kitty!” every time I saw the picture or someone mentioned it. Alternately, I love the way she says “poopies!”)
Vanessa: Hey!
Jean: Hey Vee. How’s it goin’? I’m just starting my Christmas shopping. (Hand to mouth, embarrassed confession.)
Vanessa: Oh nice. Classy.
—vanessa
sorry i missed you yesterday. how about later today? i have a meeting with kurt 12-1 but otherwise i’m off. tomorrow will be crazy but i also have sunday off. then monday i work 10ish-6ish then tuesday is my crazy, 12-14-hour day. then wednesday i work 4-8ish. then thursday i work 1:30-6ish. then back to friday again… so yeah there’s a regular week for me. :) despite the hours all over the place i’m trying to get a regular sleeping schedule going, midnight till 8am. ish. ishy ishy ish ish ish.[…] mmm i want more tea. i’m pretty much off coffee completely except for here and there which is weird because i work at a cafe where i also can’t eat all the baked goods. it’s funny, people ask me how’re the croissants and i’m like, well they were good when i worked here 2 years ago and they’re made by the same company so… anyway i’m not even tempted by any of this stuff 95% of the time which is unlike the others who work there who don’t have as good a reason to not indulge/pig out.
—vanessa
the average day of a Yellow Springer:
7:00 am - wake up, go to Emporium barefoot, steal coffee
7:30 am - gossip with other barefoot people at Emporium, glance with disdain at well-dressed regulars
…
I fall out of the house every morning and make my way across the parking lot to the cafe where I caffeinate. Sometimes I take my breakfast there or I might get some from there and steal their bowls. I have accumulated a good amount of them in my kitchen well it’s not my kitchen but I use it and I do plan to return them at some point it’s no big deal. I’m sure they have plates of mine in their stacks. Or maybe those were originally theirs I don’t know. Sometimes I am barefoot and there is frequently a good reason for this. This morning it’s kind of cold, it’s officially autumn now and I really should be wearing shoes, the thing is I left them outside last night and they’re kind of wet so they’d probably be colder than the ground anyway plus these shoes get stinky when wet and I don’t have any other shoes handy, they’re in storage right now. So those shoes are drying in the sun on the porch and I’m barefoot.
I’ve forgotten my wallet but that’s okay. I remembered my library card and that’s all that matters to me right now. If I’d forgotten that I’m sure it would have been fine but I kind of like the self-check-out there, which is weird because I hate the one at the supermarket because it takes jobs way, is that a conflict of interest, liking the one at the library? I mean they’re underfunded anyway and have had to get rid of jobs and books and services anyway so I think it just makes everything more efficient there. They’ve even set up a do-it-yourself for the holds.
Everyone is miserable. Somebody somebody please stop the moon from wrecking havoc upon everyone all at once please for the love of god. It’s making things very difficult thanks.
—Vanessa
Update the night of the last post (Sunday):
Good thing the cafe shut down early because on the way to dinner the power went out in the entire town. The sun went down and it got downright creepy. It’s like the 19th century someone said. No it’s like the 21st century another said, after the nuclear blast. You two look so eerie under that flashlight. All half-lit and Soviet. No streetlights, no shops, nothing, just the occasional window lit with a flashlight or a candle. A walk around town aided by the full moon, kind of, it was too cloudly just light enough for a dark blueish haze over everything, the fallen debris I was stepping over only shadowed. It reminded me of that night walking home in the Irish countryside. The occasional car passing either helped or hindered depending on its angle and location.
…
The power stayed out, into the next day and through it. There were rumors it wouldn’t be up until Friday. It came back this (Tuesday) afternoon.
Emporium Wines and the Underdog Cafe was the only place open in the entire town. Monday morning everyone gathered there. Kurt took charge and made coffee with water boiled on propane hot-plates. Tuesday morning Norah and Olivia made breakfast in the kitchen by flashlight on said hot-plates. Signs said “yes you can get breakfast burritos” and “we have bread but no toast/ due to the power outage and all you know”.
Those that didn’t on Monday don’t even want to think about going into their fridges.
—Vanessa
A lot of wind hits Yellow Springs, Ohio. Trees sway dangerously. Didja hear, a tree fell on a house on Elm Street. Power’s out on the south side of town. Ring ring, do you have power? Didja hear, another tree fell on Elm Street. Didja hear, three trees fell into the schoolyard.
The Underdog Cafe closes early due to tornado paranoia. Kurt rushes in, frantic, locks the door—locks people out, locks people in. We’re closing the store. You can stay if you want. We’re closing the store. You all set? Okay I’m going home. If you need me—well my phone is out. As the cafe closes people huddle in its doorway to protect themselves from the wind.
On my way home I think about a bike ride. But a tree has fallen into the street that goes from my house to the bike path and my bike’s been knocked over.
