Clouds in a Coffee Cup
From Shovelgame
A group of drunk seniors stumbled through Jackson Square at five-o-clock in the morning the day after finals were finished, proclaiming to the world that they were coming and that nothing was going to get in their way. Victoria Langley was not among them; in fact, she was sitting at one of the numerous tables under the roof of the Cafe du Monde. She watched them go by, sipping from her coffee cup and thinking about her own graduation coming in merely a week's time.
It really is almost over. She thought to herself as she savored the sweet coffee. No longer an undergraduate, not quite yet a law student. She chuckled. "Now there's a scary thought." She said to no one in particular, then took a bite of one of the beignets sitting on the plate at her table.
"What's a scary thought?" Victoria looked up and saw an older man in jogger's attire sitting nearby, newspaper on the table in front of him and a cup of coffee in his hand. She smiled at him, brushing a stray bit of long red hair out of her face. "About to graduate, is all."
The man nodded, glancing to the group of drunks making their way down Decatur Street. "You seems a bit more collected about it than those fellas. I'd be surprised if one of 'em didn't end up hitting the pavement before makin' it back home."
She chuckled. "I'll admit, I'm not one for public drunkeness. Prefer to keep that sort of thing to myself, you know?"
"Not a bad habit to have, I'd say." The man smirked, then offered a hand. "Name's Daniel Richards, formerly of Mobile."
"Victoria Langley, formally of Boston." She shook his hand, taking note of the callouses that marked the hands of a craftsman. "Pleasure."
"Same, dear, same." The two spoke for some time about various and sundry things: Daniel's granddaughter's graduation from high school and acceptance at Harvard and Victoria's thoughts on such Southern staples as grits and sweet tea, for starters. As the sun came up over the square, Daniel polished off his coffee and stood up. "Well, Victoria, it was a pleasure meeting you. Perhaps we'll do this again sometime."
"I'd love to." She smiled, then shook his hand before he headed down Decatur himself, humming an old jazz tune that Victoria vaguely recognized. She looked down at her own newly poured cup of coffee, and watched the faint clouds billow from the inside of the cup. Can't wait to see where my clouds take me. She thought, then blew into the cup and sent the fine mist flying to dissipate into the warm New Orleans air. Should definitely be interesting.
