Trains and Tinder is a short coffee shop snippet.
Trains and Tinder
“Are you Renee?” The man asked.
“No, Bess. Tinder?” Bess Murray said.
Chris Marinello rolled his eyes.
“Yeah. Sorry, I’m Chris. Meeting someone for coffee.”
“Well, so am I! Good luck,” Bess replied. She was about to turn when the horn of a train engine sounded, startling her.
“It’s the Amtrak Crescent train, headed to New York, and one of the special engines is in the lead,” Chris explained. Bess paused to watch the train pass. Just as the train started crossing the underpass over Canal Boulevard, she heard a car horn, honking incessantly. After about thirty seconds the driver, a woman, put the car in park and got out.
“I need you to move out of the way so I can park!” She shouted at an older man standing next to the building. The man was recording the train as it passed. The last car cleared the bridge when she got into his face.
“I work for the property management company here, and I need to park. Do I have to get the manager to come out here?”
The man was a bit startled.
“I was just recording–”
“I know what you were doing, and you’re blocking me. Now, do I have to get someone to come out here?” She asked again.
“Takes the train less than a minute to pass,” he replied with a shrug.
“I don’t care, you need to move!”
Tinder
“Whoa,” Bess said, softly.
“Yeah,” Chris replied.
The man recording the train turned and walked back to one of the patio tables around the corner of the building. Chris waited for the woman to pull her car in and get out.
“Renee?” Chris asked.
“Yes, what do you want?” Renee answered.
“Never mind.”
“Wait, are you Chris?” She asked.
“Not anymore,” he replied. He turned and walked to around the corner, returning to his car. The coffee shop’s parking was only half-full, so he parked closer to the side street.
“Fucking Tinder,” Chris said.
Bess chuckled.
“Aw, c’mon now, don’t blame this one on the app. I mean, it has a lot to answer for, but not this time,” Bess said.
“Fair enough. Thanks for that.”
“Hey, come on in and join us. My friends and I are older, but we don’t bite,” Bess suggested.
