Washington Bay Area, Outside of Kabul, and the Weather

The day started with nothing that would excite anyone who actually watches the news on a regular basis.

“Last night, a brutal triple homicide was reported in the Washington Bay area. Authorities were on the scene in minutes after responding to the call of a woman walking her dog.”

As she rolled out of bed, Catherine shivered a little. Not because she was used to hearing about death and destruction every morning, and not even because her aging coffee maker would breathe its last breath as she would tried to fire it up. Catherine shivered because it was cold in her apartment.

“16 dead and 32 wounded by a car bomb outside of Kabul late last night.”

A deviation from her normal routine, Catherine stopped for some coffee before heading over to the bar to open up for the day. She forged on through the cool, misty morning, unperturbed by wave after wave of the slowly advancing fog, her trademark scarf wrapped tightly around her neck. A scarf of such a fine, ethereal, grey wool that one can never be quite sure what color it really is.

“Let’s send it over to John for today’s forecast, and lemme say folks, it looks like it’s going to be a cold one!”

And thus began Catherine’s 62nd day working at Joe’s. Though sometimes tedious, Catherine enjoyed the simple act of serving others. She savored the long conversations with man, woman, young, and old who came to her counter. She would smile every so often as she would slide glass after glass down the long counter to the welcoming embrace of the customers.

She wouldn’t leave the bar till 6:30 that evening, when Lenny would come take the night shift. It was her night off after all.

Another trek back through the swirling mists of cold, damp December air. As she would pass through the doors of the apartment building, she would enjoy one brief moment of the warmth and light of the lobby before being plunged into darkness. She could hear the muttered curses of the lobby’s other occupants, but she would just head to the stairs and move along with her evening.

Catherine was used to the darkness.

“Thank you Sally! Today folks we’re looking at fog and cold for the majority of the day. Keep your kids close moms because its really easy to lose track of things in heavy fog cover.”

As Catherine would tuck herself in, only one more thought would flit through her mind before the blackness of sleep: “Damn. I forgot to get a new coffee maker.”