Liam licking a latte in the backyard September light
Strangers in the night exchanging glances
Wond'ring in the night what were the chances
We'd be sharing love before the night was through
Frank Sinatra
Starbucks
If at home I go to the same one every day- in New Hyde Park. It is not sitting friendly as I have mentioned in previous posts. There are just a few round disk-top bistro tables
and not enough chairs to pair with them. Sometimes I can sit and sometimes I just keep moving. But they know my name and my drink. That is enough.Twice though, I have been the victim of space intrusion. Both times I had secured a table.
My items had been carefully positioned-my BB, NY Times, latte.
My table now. We regulars respect this.
It is Starbucks culture.
However, on two separate occasions strangers have joined me.
How did this happen?
Incident #1
Early Summer 2010
I secure a table, set up my items for a stay- usually about 45 minutes. The crowd on line is eyeing those seated, judging their chances for seats. I am reading and texting and drinking, never making eye contact with those on line. Tacit message to all that I am not anywhere near ready to leave. I hear a voice above and look up-A young woman is holding a sandwich, a drink, and has positioned her face an inappropriately close distance to mine. I hear "Are you using this seat?" "No, I am not," I reply. She plops down. I am shocked. What, we are now a couple, sharing lunch! "You are sitting with me?" I ask incredulously. Space intruder-"I'll just be a little while."
I don't think so, not with the amount of food you have and the books and papers you are juggling and the imploring gaze you are bestowing on me. She is directly opposite me. I put up the NY Times high- I knew there was a practical function for its physical length-a paper shield. As I lower it to turn the page, I see that she is staring at me, eating very slowly and barely sipping her drink. I am not relaxed. Every time I lower the paper I see her face and she seems closer, inch by inch she is taking over more and more of the tiny table top. I could be forced off by the time I get to the op ed page,.
A table by the window opens up, I gather my things, glare at my seatmate and move. She just nibbles and stares.
Then one of the regulars comes in. Hi's all around. "No seats" he announces loudly. I motion to him, and mouth silently "yes, there is a seat, sit with her, she wants company."
And this may be the start of a beautiful friendship. I hear the entire exchange-she is a lonely summer school teacher, away from home, recently boyfriend-less, not liking her school or her job. The regular listens, murmurs sympathetic encouragement, finishes his latte and wishes her well. They pack up and leave together. Nice for them.
Am I a matchmaker?
Incident #2
Wednesday, September 29, 2010
I wait on line. When I enter there are no free tables. I decide this will be a hit and run, no sitting or reading, a latte at home. My drink is announced and I turn to leave. However, during my wait the situation has changed. There now is an empty table with 2 chairs. I sit quickly, tables are tough to come by.
I spread out my stuff. I am answering a text when I hear it "Are you using this chair?"
I answer truthfully "No." I am not one to put a bag on an empty seat to ward off people.
To me this question always means that the asker will pull off the chair to another table.
But no. Fooled again. Man sits down, facing away from "our" table-profile to me. I am as steaming as his coffee. And I know it is steaming because he has a topless cup without a sleeve. I have never seen anyone sit, walk, or leave Starbucks with a topless cup, and very seldom with a sleeveless one. No one ever throws away the top- it keeps the heat in and prevents spillage- and the coffee is too hot to hold which is why they have sleeves. see next pic- cup fully dressed with sleeve and top
Only Liam drinks topless, usually sleeveless
and he is just licking latent cold foam 
I decide that this time I will not give up my ground. I will wait this out. Topless/sleeveless man has a cell phone on which he is ostensibly viewing messages. But there is no screen visible. Really. The monitor is black. He is using his thumb to slide the screens but they are not lit. What kind of act is this? Every now and then he looks around. Not at me but at others. He drinks very slowly. Is this topless cup a weapon? A diversion? Will he toss it in my face?
Two tables open up, he does not move.
A young man near the window has witnessed the entire thing and is smiling and shaking his head in disbelief and also relief. See, he has a laptop, No one ever tries this move on a laptop person.
I read the entire NY Times, lucky today they have the Dining section. I drink my latte. T/S/Man continues to sit sideways, using his phone keys to view nothing-perhaps this is a new advanced phone where you communicate by staring at it. I am not going to win this. I have now stayed longer than I wished.
None of the articles I have read have penetrated to my brain, My latte is cold. He has won the table.
I gather my things. I get up, he does not glance up, On the way out, I say to laptop guy, "I think he is a serial killer." He laughs and goes back to his laptop.
I keep turning around as I walk to my car. T/S Man never moves. There are now many empty tables but he is frozen to the spot.
What have I learned?
1-That if I want to be solo, I must remove any extra seats from my table.
2-That the question "Are you using this seat/chair?" does not necessarily mean that the person is taking it to another table; another possibility is that the asker will use the chair to join you and encroach on your hard sought solitary time.
3-That I am very social while waiting on line, walking to and from the parking lot, yet not so once seated. I ruthlessly want my own my space-I crave and value my right to sit by myself, just for a bit.
I bring the latte foam remains in my cup home for Liam. He runs to the back yard to be by himself.
I let him be
I know how he feels.
Woof , woof.
