Page 98 of Little Wing
‘You don’t want to try my ceramics class?’
Debbie was expecting Nell to react as if she’d suggested she join the Moonies.
‘Actually, I might,’ said Nell, giving Danny a wink who gave her a massive blink in reply.
The Chaffinch was busy. They’d run out of soup and, predictably, Debbie’s jambalaya but there was no time to rub the items off the chalkboard.
‘Two cappuccinos, please,’ the next customer ordered. ‘And a cheese-and-ham toastie. No! Cheese-and-tomato. Actually, can I have cheese-ham-and-tomato?’
‘Yes,’ said Nell.
‘And could one of the cappuccinos be decaf soya?’
‘No problem – AJ, you’ve got that? One cappo, one cappo decaf soya?’
‘I’ve got that,’ said AJ.
‘I’ll have soup, please,’ ordered a woman who looked like she was having a very bad day. ‘And a tuna baguette. And a giant chocolate-chip cookie – but can I have the second one down, the one that’s poking out a bit?’
‘You may,’ said Nell. ‘But you can’t have soup. Soup’s finished.’
‘Oh. Oh. I’ll have the tuna baguette and the giant chocolate-chip cookie – second one down, that one there – and a smoothie. What smoothies do you have?’
‘Green, red, orange, yellow,’ said Nell. ‘You can kind of guess the ingredients from the colours.’
‘Which smoothie is most like the soup?’
‘Sorry?’
‘Which smoothie is most like the soup?’
And Dougie, standing quietly in line, wondered how Nell would answer that.
‘Green,’ said Nell. ‘It was watercress soup – so I’d say the green smoothie.’
‘OK. The green smoothie. And the—’
‘—tuna baguette and the second choc-chip cookie,’ Nell said. ‘Eat in or take away?’
‘In, please. I’m literally dead on my feet.’
Nell put the order through the till. At the same time she reached down without looking to hand a wodge of paper towels to a mother whose child was wearing his meal, while also admiring Danny’s handful of tips, saving the jug of straws from going flying and calling outnext please!
‘Just a cup of tea,’ said Dougie. ‘Please.’
‘Dougie?’
‘Just thought I’d see how your tea-making skills compare to mine.’
Rachel, who rarely spoke, noted Nell’s sudden silence; that the queue stretched to the door and that Debbie wasn’t in sight.
‘Eat in or take away?’ Rachel’s scratchy little voice asked Dougie.
‘In – if that’s OK?’
‘Want a cookie or cake?’
‘Lemon drizzle, please,’ he said.
