Characters Welcome

There once was a man named Byrne. He is a large man with shoulder-length silver hair and a big grin who Leche meets at church last Sunday. Byrne enjoys puppets. Byrne strikes up conversation with Leche at Mountain Market one afternoon, which is nice, only to invite her over the next afternoon to continue the chat. Leche mentions Byrne to YeaYea, only to get an unexpected reaction and warning that Byrne likes to invite people over to his dimmly-lit and odd-looking house. Leche is advised to bring someone, so Leche makes High 5 go with her. Upon arriving at Byrne's, Leche and High 5 are welcomed with creepy French music and a huge mannequin in the corner. High 5 refuses to take off her coat. The two girls gaze about the room, noticing Byrne's 8,000 records and 3,000 CD's (they asked Byrne), with a complete library of books and movies taboot. After much chitchat, Leche agrees to try Byrne's Hibiscus flower tea with raw sugar, which actually tastes good- kinda like a melted fruit leather. Having visited for what they think is the appropriate amount of time to be considered "intentional," the girls make to leave, only to be faced with Byrne's excited realization that they have yet to talk about puppets!!! Well! Of course! How could they all have forgotten! Thus commences the showing of Byrne's video which documents his three month trip through Europe to visit all kinds of puppet theatres. Turns out the Czech Repubic is quite the hub for puppet entertainment! An hour QUICKLY flies by and Leche and High 5 must depart to go to dinner. Shame. That concludes their visit with Byrne, but not without High 5 committing to a future puppet show possibly involving Christ's crucifixion. Byrne would like them to visit again.

There once was a man named Jeff. Jeff considers himself an old friend of Natalie's, who has just begun her new job at the Mountain Market. Jeff has gone to the Mountain Market every morning for breakfast since he was sixteen. He is now an age Natalie can't even guess. Jeff asks Natalie's new co-worker, whom she has yet to really talk to, to say good things about him to her. Natalie pretends the handwashing sink needs special attention and that she doesn't actually hear this comment. The next day, Jeff chats with Natalie as she wipes down the tables and he is nice enough. Later, he is insulted that Natalie doesn't sit with him when she goes on her break. He proceeds to join her. Natalie leaves her book open as a signal to Jeff that she is not actually going to commit herself to this conversation, but she still wants to be "intentional." After all, people like Jeff are exactly the people in the community she knew she was going to get to know when she took the job at the Mountain Market, thus its appeal. Jeff asks Natalie questions and Natalie is polite, including an inquiry as to what she is doing even as she is still clutching her open book so she replies, "reading," but once Jeff finds out that Natalie knows Amy Junkin, who also used to work at Mountain Market, Jeff decides that, "ahh...so you're a good girl, too." Natalie says, "well, I guess I am." Jeff says that his bark is bigger than his bite. Natalie doesn't know quite what to say to this. Natalie is very excited when YeaYea comes to join her and Jeff leaves the table. Two days later, Natalie walks into Mountain Market just for a moment to see if the schedule is up. She notices Jeff is there, but she is wearing a hat so maybe he won't notice her. She chats with her new co-worker, is only there for a minute, and walks out quickly as Jeff is chatting at a table full of other men. She is halfway across the parking lot when she hears, "HEY!" She turns to see Jeff, saying he is hurt that she didn't say hi to him. The conversation unfortunately does not last, as Natalie says she is on her way to a meeting (partially true). They part.

The End.