Not Canny, a Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro Story

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Mimi sat at the end of the bar past the last table on the floor of the Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro, the seat closest to the hall with the men's room door on one side and the women's on the other, and just past them, the Manager's Office where The Tall Thin Man presided.

Beyond this, who knew what was back there, the hall turned and turned again, with rooms and passages and staircases to the upper floors most of them unexplored and unused for many years since this ceased to be the bustling center of commerce in a warehouse area.

Just before you got to beyond, however, was a wide set of double doors which was the mechanical room, the A/C and heating units, large water heater, space for the larger janitorial supplies like the janitor's cart and big mops and wringer buckets, and this is also where the electrical panel was housed with what Mimi always called the "fuse box" from habit, although it was all circuit breakers now, including the panel for the emergency power generator they'd had installed in case of a major outage during storms.

As she sat taking a breather from kitchen duty (banana pudding dessert day was always busy), the light in the hall, never very bright and always trying to show signs of ceasing to function, did exactly that once again, plunging the hall into the darkness which seemed to be its natural state.

With a sigh, Mimi stood up and called Hūnga, "Boy, do you want to come with me and help me find which breaker tripped this time?" and always game for adventure, Hūnga came over, Mimi turned on the light on her phone, which led them both to the mechanical room doors, and by habit she went in and started running the light over the panel to look for the "soft" one, because it never fully tripped all the way to the "off" position but just wasn't quite making contact with the "on" side, either.

Flipping it all the way off and back on again, through the open door to the hall behind her she saw the light flicker on, very dim, so she closed the panel, she and the dog left the mechanical room and went back to the Bistro proper with Mimi muttering, "I know it's going to go out again, the electricals are as odd in this place as at my house, and there's something just not canny about the hallway."

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Table.     

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Dangerous Words (Six Sentence Story)

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"Heavens to Betsy, Hūnga, just give me a minute, we'll be out the door as soon as the cookies come out of the oven!"

Mimi laughed and then laughed a bit more as Tom growled, "'Heavens to Betsy', really, you can't even swear properly, you are a relic!"

"Our favorite family story about my Nana taught me about epithets, there were 12 people in a 3 bedroom, one bathroom house for Thanksgiving and everyone was tense and Papa decided for some reason, duck had to be on the menu.

"My Nana tried to dissuade him but he insisted and when she got back from their last run to the store for the supplies, she pointedly looked at him while emptying the bags and said, 'and I got your effing duck, too!'"

Mimi was pulling the cookies out of the oven as she continued, "Yes, my meek as Moses Nana dropped an f-bomb, her first, last, and only, right there in front of all the adults in the family and not only did my Papa learn his sweet wife had her limits, I learned from that story to save such language for when I really mean it."

As Tom just shook his head and she pulled out Hūnga's harness to head for the door, she added, "So just remember, if you ever do hear me use such a word, run!"

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Relic.      

(I may have told this story before, but guess what?  It's one of my favorites, so it gets a repeat.)

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Doggie Smarts (Six Sentence Story)

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Mimi had gotten in the habit, when puttering around in the Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro kitchen while Hūnga was in there, of speaking to the dog the same way she would talk to anyone else.

She knew he might have trouble understanding certain words, but she also knew he spoke "human" well enough to understand the intent and would have pitted his vocabulary against that of many so-called educated people who couldn't talk a lick of sense.

"The frequency with which you have to take puppies out for potty breaks is inversely proportional to the number of piddle accidents you want to clean on any day," she was saying, "but as for you, my grown-up dog friend, you have sense to use your dog door if you grow desperate enough not to wait for your daily constitutional."

Hūnga was watching her but listening beyond the room they were in, and when he heard a tell-tale sound, his whole back end began to wag as it always did when he was excited about something; Mimi noticed it and reached for the leash and harness.

As the Gatekeeper came through the swinging door, Hūnga launched himself at the man who was ready for it and you couldn't have told which was the more excited at the meeting, man or dog.

As Mimi smiled mischievously and handed the man the dog's gear, she teasingly told Hūnga, "You should be flattered, Hūnga, no person born can command this man but he bows to your every whim," and she heard the Gatekeeper still laughing as he and the dog went out the door for their walk.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Frequency.      

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Sometimes You Have To (Six Sentence Story)

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"Why is there a cup of water on the corner of the floor of the pantry, and where are Hunga's bowls?"

Cook looked sternly at Mimi, who said, "The bowls are in the Hobart getting a good sanitizing, because even though he's the only one eating out of them everyone, or every dog, needs clean, fresh bowls once in so often, they get rather awful..."

"He liked his bowls the way they were!"

"Well, then, he can have the fun of dirtying them up again for a few weeks before they need another wash, and meanwhile, the cup is so he can have some water anyway even while his bowls are washing."

The dog of their discussion came running in at this point, straight to his corner of the pantry and, seeing the cup, stuck his nose in and began slurping thirstily as Mimi looked on with an indulgent smile.

"Hummmmph, just don't let it happen too often, I know for a fact dogs take great delight in getting their things smelling and looking just so, and you can quit smiling so big..." and Cook stalked off muttering about how some people just don't understand what dogs love as Mimi chuckled quietly.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Cup.      

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At Least One Fan (Six Sentence Story)

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Putting the finishing touch of freshly grated nutmeg and crumbled vanilla wafers on the three large sheet pans of banana pudding she'd finally assembled, Mimi glanced up at the sound of a whine.

Hunga had let himself into the kitchen through its swinging door and looked at her with the canine expression of almost mute appeal which lets you know there is nothing in the world, at that moment, better than your cooking, at least to the dog.

Trying to suppress a smile and failing utterly, Mimi reached around the bottle of vanilla extract she'd used and grabbed the foil covers for the pans.

"Just a moment, boy," she said.  "I need to get these into the fridge so they'll set in time to serve later, then I'll give you the last spatula to lick and the vanilla wafer I saved for you."

As the dog happily "precleaned" the spatula of every last molecule of pudding and licked up every crumb of that wafer, tail wagging happily, Mimi knew even if the people liked what she'd prepared, she'd never get praise she appreciated more than those wags.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Extract.      

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When the Waiting Ends, a Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro Story

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The dull gray of the day began to lift a little, and several pairs of eyes watched with keen interest to see if the rain would actually stop, or just go through fits and starts and pretendings but never truly quite give way to the sun, ever present and waiting patiently for the clouds to finish their job and move on.

An end finally and fully came as the sun broke through and a back door was opened just to peek out and make sure, the gleam of wet surfaces in bright light and the smell of petrichor in the air ending all doubt.

The pair of eyes on the four-footed one danced along with those feet as the lead and harness were fetched and the prancing hardly slowed as the woman tried to attach them.  She practically had to throw herself over the canine's body to hold him down so she could finally do her job, and when she was done she lost her balance as he tried to bound away.

She laughed as she landed on the floor with the dog jumping on her and covering her with those wet, slobbery dog kisses.

"Here," Mimi said to the Gatekeeper, handing him the leash, "Hunga has waited for his walk long enough and you don't need to be cooped up in here any longer either," and she smiled as she watched them walk through the door, both obviously eager and more than ready for the next adventure.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Petrichor.      

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No Guile Intended (A Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro Story)

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He stood looking at her, expectantly, and she smiled.

"Yes, Hunga, I'm fixing some for you and a bite for me, too.  Now just let me get back over here and close the fridge..."

The refrigerator door caught on a bottle of salad dressing leaning out at the wrong angle, and by the time she bent over, straightened it up, and turned back with the door successfully shut, the counter where the snack had been was empty, and the dog was happily scarfing down the whole portion.

"Hunga!" she said, and the dog, unlike a human who would probably flush with shame, just looked up with his wide doggy grin and his whole back end wagging, obviously proud of himself for his snack hunting prowess.

Mimi laughed and said, "Well, you got me this time, buddy, but now you're going to have to wait while I make a bit more before we go out -- and you better be ready to run today, you have extra calories to burn off!"

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Flush.      www.girlieontheedge1.wordpress.com

(Based on our morning -- Sweetie turned his back on the breakfast sandwich he brought to work with him to close the microwave door and Cookie, rather than wait for him to give her a tidbit as he always does, helped herself to the whole thing from the counter!)

Cookie, tummy full.

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Joyful, a Six Sentence Cafe and Bistro Story

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They could hear the rhythmic thump, thump, thump as they approached the door telling them their arrival was both expected and welcomed.

The Gatekeeper opened the door and allowed Nanan to go through first though she quickly stepped aside.  Good thing, as Hunga, who was wagging his stump of a tail and whole backside so hard his entire body had been banging on the wall, launched himself into the man's embrace.

Nanan smiled to see them, man and dog so in tune with each other, she was happy to give The Gatekeeper first place with everyone's favorite canine.

She handed over the harness and leash so the two best buddies could take a walk.  As they were leaving it occurred to her of all the bonds humans had managed to forge with various now domesticated species, the one with these descendants of the wolf was probably the most joyful to observe.

Linking up with Denise at Girlie On The Edge Blog, where she hosts Six Sentence Stories, and the cue is Forge.     

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Best Friend, a Six Sentence Story/Poem

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Another freeform poem for the SSC&B Poetry Slam, hosted by Denise, where the cue word is Second.

Just a second (but I'm ready now!)

In a moment (every moment counts!)

Let me finish (but you'll never finish!)

You are right (I am wise that way!)

We'll go now (there's no time but the present)

Thank you, friend dog, this is what we needed (I knew that!)

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