WEBVTT 1 00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:08.119 Hello, I'm welcomed stories all the time. The lad you 2 00:00:08.160 --> 00:00:11.599 are here, Let's get into it. It's curious how so 3 00:00:11.720 --> 00:00:15.160 much of Lye's flavor brews quietly in repeated pleasures. Maybe 4 00:00:15.199 --> 00:00:17.600 that's why Mason Rivie always felt right to me. Each 5 00:00:17.640 --> 00:00:20.719 Wednesday morning, the cafe orchestrates the ordinary patterns of habit 6 00:00:20.800 --> 00:00:24.160 into something like comfort, or maybe even gentle meaning. The 7 00:00:24.239 --> 00:00:26.920 soft clinking of porcelain, the mellow jazz from an honest 8 00:00:26.960 --> 00:00:30.440 old record player, riverlet lapping along the wall here routine 9 00:00:30.440 --> 00:00:33.479 fits like an old cardigan. I'm herald, not some one 10 00:00:33.479 --> 00:00:36.679 many would call peculiar. For thirty four years I sorted 11 00:00:36.719 --> 00:00:39.439 the city's posts, knew every street and the best shortcuts 12 00:00:39.479 --> 00:00:43.200 through hedges. Now retire, widowed two years this much I 13 00:00:43.240 --> 00:00:46.280 treat my Wednesdays almost with ceremony. The rough silt of 14 00:00:46.359 --> 00:00:48.240 the path beside the water, the glint of silver on 15 00:00:48.280 --> 00:00:51.039 the bakery counter, then the doors to Mason Rivie, warrenwood 16 00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:54.039 and glass esch with the cafe's hell ligantar my seat, 17 00:00:54.039 --> 00:00:56.159 the corner by the front window, table wide enough for 18 00:00:56.320 --> 00:00:59.280 my tea, almond coossa, the day's cross word, anything insorted 19 00:00:59.280 --> 00:01:02.640 in my thoughts. Anne always has the tea steeping mug 20 00:01:02.679 --> 00:01:06.239 perfectly and chipped. There he is Anna called this morning, 21 00:01:06.359 --> 00:01:08.640 for is clear over the steady hiss from the machine. 22 00:01:09.040 --> 00:01:11.719 She is a cafees com neat ponatail, always two ear rings, 23 00:01:11.760 --> 00:01:15.680 sleeves faded at the cuffs, brought the sun harold by 24 00:01:15.719 --> 00:01:19.400 special arrangement, I replied with the same lazy grin. Assesse 25 00:01:19.519 --> 00:01:21.879 Cart was at her post near the bookcase, re arranging 26 00:01:21.920 --> 00:01:24.200 her tote, which louched under the weight of distant Russian 27 00:01:24.239 --> 00:01:27.560 novels Radiance in navy knit. Anna handed over my tray, 28 00:01:27.920 --> 00:01:30.719 pausing only to fuss over her chalk sign fresh Rubrob's 29 00:01:30.719 --> 00:01:34.079 combe returns Askana. Mister Lai was half way through defeating 30 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:37.359 an invisible opponent at the chest table, muttering last night again, 31 00:01:37.519 --> 00:01:40.439 not the schevrik want the one who jumps erratically from 32 00:01:40.480 --> 00:01:43.000 beside the plant stand to moss tossed out. Every night 33 00:01:43.079 --> 00:01:46.280 needs a shining moment, mister Lye. But maybe not during breakfast. 34 00:01:46.879 --> 00:01:49.239 Good nature of laughter skittered around the room, white as 35 00:01:49.239 --> 00:01:53.599 a jazz symbol. It all felt familiar, no more than familiar, 36 00:01:53.680 --> 00:01:56.359 as Anna and missess Echot exchanged a gentle joke something 37 00:01:56.359 --> 00:01:58.879 about herbal tea being less literary than an espresso. I 38 00:01:58.879 --> 00:02:00.599 could have sworn I had heard them spar over that 39 00:02:00.680 --> 00:02:03.000 phrased him before, or nearly the same cadence, the same 40 00:02:03.040 --> 00:02:05.079 smile in Anna's eyes as she wiped clean mug with 41 00:02:05.120 --> 00:02:08.080 a dish towel. We moved through patterns. Of course, the 42 00:02:08.120 --> 00:02:10.759 same friends rob each other, rustle the local news, sink 43 00:02:10.800 --> 00:02:13.800 into their favorite chairs. But there's mustpoon circled the cup, 44 00:02:13.840 --> 00:02:16.520 always clockwise, always three slow rounds. The echo and their 45 00:02:16.599 --> 00:02:18.919 jerk pressed oddly on my mind, like the persistent tune 46 00:02:18.919 --> 00:02:22.199 of some childhood by my kidden place outside. A cinnamon 47 00:02:22.199 --> 00:02:25.159 colored spaniel of regular herself, I'm certain, dragged her walker 48 00:02:25.199 --> 00:02:27.960 past the window, and missus Eckard offered a practice commentary. 49 00:02:28.000 --> 00:02:30.800 Could that woman ever use a leash? You think? Or 50 00:02:30.840 --> 00:02:34.000 maybe the dog is walking her to moss? Suggest it again? 51 00:02:34.159 --> 00:02:36.360 It rang uncannily close to a joke I had already heard. 52 00:02:36.919 --> 00:02:39.240 I forced a small smile. Cracked open in the morning paper, 53 00:02:39.800 --> 00:02:43.639 the headline neatly boxed above the fold read counseled debates 54 00:02:43.680 --> 00:02:47.360 flood barriers Again. Of course they do, I thought. Rivers 55 00:02:47.439 --> 00:02:50.120 rise and councils dither, but in the space left by 56 00:02:50.120 --> 00:02:52.960 Anna's laughter a sharper realization Kribin. Hadn't I read that 57 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:56.639 exact headline a week before, same font, same resigned eye 58 00:02:56.680 --> 00:02:59.879 rolls from the counter. My hands paused before the crossword penn. 59 00:03:00.960 --> 00:03:04.159 It felt like deja vu, but with shopper edges. Maybe 60 00:03:04.159 --> 00:03:06.759 patterns of habit run deeper than I'd realized. Perhaps the 61 00:03:06.759 --> 00:03:09.439 brain just forgets how consistently a place can echo itself back. 62 00:03:10.120 --> 00:03:12.319 I shruved at my own fastness and crossed off fourteen 63 00:03:12.319 --> 00:03:16.159 across a obsolete mode of transport. Anna supplied penny farthing 64 00:03:16.240 --> 00:03:19.520 as she refilled my hot water on cue, but it 65 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:23.159 sat with me, strange and insistent. Wednesdays are my anchor, 66 00:03:23.280 --> 00:03:26.240 my dash of social salt. Retirement chafed at first, too 67 00:03:26.319 --> 00:03:29.120 much silence in my compact riverside flap laid, some pulling 68 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.360 aimlessly on my window sill. I built Wednesdays for company, 69 00:03:32.400 --> 00:03:35.280 in contact strands on the high street, gossip at Mason Rivie, 70 00:03:35.439 --> 00:03:39.199 then the pharmacy. Always the Wednesday's create a seam stitching 71 00:03:39.240 --> 00:03:42.280 a week together. Anna has managed a morning shift here 72 00:03:42.280 --> 00:03:44.960 for nearly three years. She's the soul of the place. 73 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:47.560 Her bright good morning, making even the local councilor smile. 74 00:03:47.680 --> 00:03:50.039 Her gentle way of cooling, jittery nose and milk frothers 75 00:03:50.240 --> 00:03:53.520 like she read poetry on slow afternoons and leaves sketches 76 00:03:53.560 --> 00:03:56.400 in the suggestion box just to confuse the manager. To me, 77 00:03:56.680 --> 00:03:59.599 Anna's predictability is never dull. It's RESTful, like a song. 78 00:03:59.599 --> 00:04:03.159 She's low unperfectly, but still finds pleasure in singing. Sessa 79 00:04:03.240 --> 00:04:06.439 card is twice retired from teaching. In marriage. She runs 80 00:04:06.439 --> 00:04:08.120 a book club large enough to fill most of the 81 00:04:08.159 --> 00:04:10.759 back tables, thirty strong. She says, if even half of 82 00:04:10.759 --> 00:04:13.599 them read the bloody book. She arrived this morning, wrapped 83 00:04:13.599 --> 00:04:16.079 in stories, courting from persuasion as she shook crane off 84 00:04:16.120 --> 00:04:19.279 her umbrella. Her partner Clare, sometimes comes to collect her 85 00:04:19.319 --> 00:04:21.639 punctual and prayer out arm in arm as they descend 86 00:04:21.680 --> 00:04:25.399 to the high street. Tomas By contrasts is newness itself, 87 00:04:25.439 --> 00:04:29.079 not quite thirty, recently arrived from up North, a sketchbookustrdy companion. 88 00:04:29.519 --> 00:04:32.120 He brings judis of regulars, hustling flies for the latest 89 00:04:32.120 --> 00:04:34.399 open mic, hopping between all the seats that never seem 90 00:04:34.439 --> 00:04:37.240 to suit him. He loves the cafe's energy, which I 91 00:04:37.240 --> 00:04:39.639 find amusing since most of us think of it as serene. 92 00:04:40.079 --> 00:04:43.160 Mister Laie, precise and infinitely critical, reserves his chest table 93 00:04:43.160 --> 00:04:45.839 by the window without fail. He is equal parts mentor 94 00:04:45.839 --> 00:04:48.079 and mister Fleigend has that he once politely chetmated a 95 00:04:48.120 --> 00:04:50.040 grandma so who failed to read through the lines of 96 00:04:50.079 --> 00:04:53.399 his defense. He sometimes points out tiny flaws in Anna's 97 00:04:53.399 --> 00:04:56.120 pastry arrangement, just to watch her counter with you organize 98 00:04:56.160 --> 00:04:59.000 the board, I'll organize the corosus. The neighborhood is self 99 00:04:59.000 --> 00:05:01.240 crowds with then showy his street as that once led 100 00:05:01.240 --> 00:05:05.240 smugglers to their boats, now sleepy jigsauventtique shops, studios and 101 00:05:05.240 --> 00:05:08.560 those creaky houses that always need painting. Mason Revere sits 102 00:05:08.560 --> 00:05:10.439 at the crook of the oldest lane. It Swall's curdive 103 00:05:10.480 --> 00:05:13.560 of plants and quietly eccentric cutwork. The best view is 104 00:05:13.560 --> 00:05:16.279 the water, all undulation and glint, the river doing the 105 00:05:16.279 --> 00:05:19.160 real work of moving time alone. I think about routine 106 00:05:19.240 --> 00:05:22.399 is something alive. A cafe stands somewhere between a living 107 00:05:22.480 --> 00:05:26.240 room and a tavern, between privacy in performance, even amongst 108 00:05:26.240 --> 00:05:28.720 the banter, though I'd always trusted that there was variation, 109 00:05:28.759 --> 00:05:31.439 a small surprise in every morning's dough or sudden sour 110 00:05:31.519 --> 00:05:34.600 joke from mister Lai. But that odd sense from earlier lingered. 111 00:05:35.519 --> 00:05:38.959 Missessakhart this time tripped on her phraze about deceptively strong coffee, 112 00:05:38.959 --> 00:05:42.839 almost a narcotic Anna. Anna laughed exactly so, matching the 113 00:05:42.920 --> 00:05:45.600 rise and fall as if it were memorized. Mister Lai 114 00:05:45.680 --> 00:05:49.480 blundered his night, knocking over upon, then, with practice self deprecation, muttered, 115 00:05:49.519 --> 00:05:51.600 the night always falls when I tell myself it won't 116 00:05:52.279 --> 00:05:55.079 crossed the room. A low snatch of conversation, an argument 117 00:05:55.120 --> 00:05:58.240 over reusable bags, worded so that it sounded almost staged. 118 00:05:58.839 --> 00:06:00.639 The same old song spun on the record play a 119 00:06:00.680 --> 00:06:03.160 Sinatra I've Got the World on a straying already played 120 00:06:03.160 --> 00:06:05.759 to earlied as week if memory served. Was that just 121 00:06:05.800 --> 00:06:08.240 my mind or mixing memories? Or had I truly heard this? 122 00:06:08.319 --> 00:06:12.040 Before setting aside my crossword, I checked day's date, sharp 123 00:06:12.040 --> 00:06:14.800 as ever, the paper was crisp, but the headline about 124 00:06:14.839 --> 00:06:17.040 the flood barrier is exactly the same as last week's. 125 00:06:17.079 --> 00:06:20.240 I was nearly sure. I flipped back through last week's paper, 126 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:23.360 which i'd used for wrapping a prisent. The dates didn't match, 127 00:06:23.519 --> 00:06:26.079 yet the headline's lettering tugged at me. I blinked, shook 128 00:06:26.079 --> 00:06:29.720 my head as if cleaning dust. Curiosity keen innaesid began 129 00:06:29.800 --> 00:06:32.399 to take purchase. Was this the nature of memory in 130 00:06:32.480 --> 00:06:34.560 old age? Or had the world gotten stuck in some 131 00:06:34.600 --> 00:06:37.439 peculiar rat Maybe? I thought to Day was showing me 132 00:06:37.480 --> 00:06:40.160 the soft absurdity of being a Wednesday regular, how everything 133 00:06:40.240 --> 00:06:43.199 cycles back if you're faithful long enough. But that didn't 134 00:06:43.240 --> 00:06:46.120 explain the odd kinetic feeling that repetition here was just 135 00:06:46.160 --> 00:06:49.079 a little too clean. I closed the paper, savoring the 136 00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:51.720 tot speeders of my almond calls. But each familiar moment 137 00:06:51.759 --> 00:06:53.839 now clicked in my mind like a tawe settling into place, 138 00:06:53.879 --> 00:06:57.240 expected yet perplexing when you stay too long. Anna breeze 139 00:06:57.240 --> 00:06:59.839 by straightening the utensil's tray. And when I commented that 140 00:06:59.879 --> 00:07:02.279 the cafe was busy today for a Wednesday, she reply, 141 00:07:02.519 --> 00:07:05.240 it's always like this by ten, not busy for to day, 142 00:07:05.920 --> 00:07:10.879 not of sometimes always by ten. That night, after my 143 00:07:11.000 --> 00:07:12.839 errands and a walk by the river bank, a leaf 144 00:07:12.879 --> 00:07:15.759 through calendars and notebooks, not in desperation, only to amuse 145 00:07:15.759 --> 00:07:18.839 a growing hypothesis. My notes gleaned over months showed a 146 00:07:18.879 --> 00:07:22.519 predictable pattern, but in each column something nagged. The books 147 00:07:22.560 --> 00:07:24.920 discussed by missse Kot's club the same as last year. 148 00:07:25.519 --> 00:07:28.279 The times mister Laie arrived more precise than I remembered. 149 00:07:28.839 --> 00:07:33.079 Familiarity was one thing, predestination another, a circle possible repetitions 150 00:07:33.160 --> 00:07:36.079 resolving to be sharper next week. A single day can 151 00:07:36.120 --> 00:07:39.519 spiral into habit, but a repeated script that was different. 152 00:07:40.240 --> 00:07:42.399 Was the world shrinking? Or was it something in the water? 153 00:07:43.079 --> 00:07:45.959 If I'm honest, what drew me back wasn't worry. It 154 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:47.920 was the magnet kitch of something hiding, and play in 155 00:07:47.959 --> 00:07:51.040 view puzzles even in retirement, not my attention, like letters 156 00:07:51.079 --> 00:07:54.360 out of alphabetical order. The following Wednesday, the march wind 157 00:07:54.360 --> 00:07:57.199 scraping the water side arrived at Mason Rivie, five minutes 158 00:07:57.199 --> 00:07:59.879 earlier than usual. My BRIT's left to find silt on them, 159 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:02.079 and as Anna greeted me the same day, he as 160 00:08:02.120 --> 00:08:04.279 does the weak pry. I fell to shiver, mild but plain. 161 00:08:04.959 --> 00:08:07.839 I scanned the room. Mister si Khurt was present, thumbing 162 00:08:07.839 --> 00:08:11.079 through a battered paperback. Mister lay at the chessboard to 163 00:08:11.120 --> 00:08:13.399 a moss at the same old table, carving something angular 164 00:08:13.439 --> 00:08:16.199 on too the margin of a magazine. Sitting with my tea, 165 00:08:16.279 --> 00:08:18.480 A blinked at the newspaper they kept beside the register. 166 00:08:19.160 --> 00:08:22.439 The headline again counseled, debate, flowed barriers, again, a photograph 167 00:08:22.480 --> 00:08:25.839 I believed I'd already seen, I asked Aana gently. Didn't 168 00:08:25.839 --> 00:08:29.000 the council make a decision on that last week? She paused, 169 00:08:29.000 --> 00:08:31.160 hand lingering just a moment too long over the cup. 170 00:08:31.720 --> 00:08:34.759 I think it's ongoing, Harold, the same every spring. But 171 00:08:34.840 --> 00:08:37.080 the smallest falter in her voice, hesitation I had never 172 00:08:37.120 --> 00:08:39.360 heard before, caught in the air, then dissolved as she 173 00:08:39.399 --> 00:08:43.600 wiped the counter. I settled at my table. Sinatra's record played, 174 00:08:43.639 --> 00:08:45.960 starting at nearly the same note, round the same minute 175 00:08:46.000 --> 00:08:47.960 as the weak pry. I'd checked my watch, a jitter 176 00:08:48.000 --> 00:08:53.200 of amusement building alongside genuine question. Mid morning, miss Essa kakoughed, apologizing, 177 00:08:53.480 --> 00:08:56.240 this ridiculous cold still hasn't left me. Sorry, Anna, I'm 178 00:08:56.240 --> 00:08:59.559 not contagious. But her voice was perfectly clear, more robust 179 00:08:59.639 --> 00:09:02.720 even than the last week. Mister eli'shan lost a night 180 00:09:02.720 --> 00:09:05.000 in the fourth move, same as before, and repeated his 181 00:09:05.159 --> 00:09:08.399 night always falls quipomo syllable for syllable. I reached from 182 00:09:08.440 --> 00:09:11.159 my day plan I checked last week's notes. Timings matched 183 00:09:11.159 --> 00:09:13.679 with suspicious precision, perhaps off by only a minute or two. 184 00:09:14.279 --> 00:09:17.879 Although whispered conspiracy was blossoming in me. Perhaps cafes really 185 00:09:17.879 --> 00:09:20.080 derun on the law of large numbers, a million small 186 00:09:20.120 --> 00:09:23.279 routines over us, creating the illusion of pattern. Or perhaps 187 00:09:23.279 --> 00:09:25.200 it was me losing my own place in the week. 188 00:09:25.720 --> 00:09:28.279 But neither excuse satisfied. To tinkle running spyward. When the 189 00:09:28.320 --> 00:09:30.720 van outside gave its little pucking beap at exactly the 190 00:09:30.720 --> 00:09:33.679 same stretch of song as last time, I resolved to 191 00:09:33.720 --> 00:09:36.879 test things more closely. After errands and a careful walk 192 00:09:36.919 --> 00:09:41.480 along the water, I returned, promising myself stricter observation. Next Wednesday, 193 00:09:41.480 --> 00:09:44.159 i'd record each step, who wintered, when, what was said, 194 00:09:44.360 --> 00:09:49.240 what was eden? My intention, I suppose, was to banish coincidence. Instead, 195 00:09:49.360 --> 00:09:52.639 I found myself drawn closer to it. The following Wednesday 196 00:09:52.679 --> 00:09:55.159 I prepared, I brought last week'sday planner tucked into my 197 00:09:55.159 --> 00:09:57.840 coat pocket, and arrived at Mason Rivie at nine fifty 198 00:09:57.879 --> 00:10:00.679 six sharp and agree to me your prompt as ever 199 00:10:00.720 --> 00:10:03.639 to day, trying to keep you on your toes, I replied, 200 00:10:03.759 --> 00:10:07.720 watching her reaction, none except the usual warmth. I ordered 201 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:09.679 not my usual coss up, but a fig tart. Though 202 00:10:09.679 --> 00:10:12.200 I appaused a second blinking as if waiting for a correction, 203 00:10:12.840 --> 00:10:14.879 I held my ground and she nodded, jotting the note 204 00:10:14.879 --> 00:10:17.840 with an odd little smile. I began my experiment scripted 205 00:10:17.840 --> 00:10:21.480 and unscripted layers. I watched the customers. Miss Essekouk greeted 206 00:10:21.480 --> 00:10:24.240 Anna with the identical pun about novelties as verbatim as 207 00:10:24.279 --> 00:10:27.039 could be, and was met with the prescribed luff. Mister 208 00:10:27.159 --> 00:10:29.639 Lae again blundered the night at the fourth move, signing 209 00:10:29.679 --> 00:10:32.440 with pre end of defeat. The song order on the 210 00:10:32.480 --> 00:10:34.919 record player was unchanged the same first five in the 211 00:10:34.960 --> 00:10:37.480 same sequence, though the playlists shuffled o the days of 212 00:10:37.519 --> 00:10:40.799 the week. The sun behind quick tourning clouds sliced through 213 00:10:40.799 --> 00:10:43.000 the window and made patents on the floor, paralleling last 214 00:10:43.039 --> 00:10:44.879 Wednesday almost to the minute. I clocked it with my 215 00:10:44.919 --> 00:10:47.279 phone as rain began outside at the same minute as 216 00:10:47.279 --> 00:10:50.440 in my previous entry. I sneezed, fixing it, and an 217 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:52.879 immediately called out, bless you the a mere half beat 218 00:10:52.919 --> 00:10:55.039 later than last week's blessing for a genuine s niece. 219 00:10:55.759 --> 00:10:59.039 An experiment within the boundaries the s gun menu change 220 00:10:59.080 --> 00:11:01.440 proved revealing. Anna wrote a FRESHERU bops go and returned 221 00:11:01.519 --> 00:11:04.200 Zaskana for the chalkboard. But hadn't she trumpeted the very 222 00:11:04.240 --> 00:11:07.679 same return last Wednesday? When I'm quiet, she just grinned. 223 00:11:07.840 --> 00:11:09.440 I told the baker we'd make at the Star, as 224 00:11:09.440 --> 00:11:12.879 though it were new outside. The spaniel dragged her walker pass. 225 00:11:12.879 --> 00:11:15.440 At the same moment, identical clouds at the river's bend. 226 00:11:16.200 --> 00:11:19.600 The delivery van repeated its awkward park setting office's echots 227 00:11:19.600 --> 00:11:22.399 well worn commentary. I checked my receipt of the same 228 00:11:22.440 --> 00:11:24.480 total to the pent as the week before. Saint times 229 00:11:24.519 --> 00:11:27.639 damp Within two minutes after the van curvedfull, and a 230 00:11:27.679 --> 00:11:30.320 pass by had asked, isn't it grancing the regulars out 231 00:11:30.360 --> 00:11:33.279 even in the drizzle? It is, I said, but added 232 00:11:33.399 --> 00:11:36.559 more to myself a patron in everything, I asked her quietly, 233 00:11:36.720 --> 00:11:38.600 do you ever notice how much is the same week 234 00:11:38.639 --> 00:11:41.519 to week? Polata came easily. He had a cruche shut 235 00:11:41.519 --> 00:11:44.480 at her brow. Just a moment were creatures of habit here? 236 00:11:44.639 --> 00:11:47.919 I suppose there it was a glimmer A hesitation quickly 237 00:11:47.919 --> 00:11:51.679 swept aside as she gathered colory curiosity. A fan is 238 00:11:51.720 --> 00:11:55.440 not content with mere numerics. I began to mark subtler things, 239 00:11:55.480 --> 00:11:57.679 the odor of Anna's movements behind the counter of Tomos's 240 00:11:57.720 --> 00:11:59.960 habit of dropping his pen. At ten twenty one, Missus 241 00:12:00.000 --> 00:12:02.759 says Ekhot's restation of a half remembered poem about quiet 242 00:12:02.840 --> 00:12:05.919 rivers and borrow time. On the following Wednesday, I watched 243 00:12:05.919 --> 00:12:08.120 as she improvised the ending, identical to her attempt a 244 00:12:08.120 --> 00:12:11.120 week before. This was becoming too precise for mere habit. 245 00:12:11.679 --> 00:12:14.600 The contradictions deepened when I tried to shake things. I 246 00:12:14.639 --> 00:12:17.399 intentionally changed my request to made her juice instead of tea. 247 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:22.279 Anna pause, blinked, then smiled uncertainly. We don't often get that. 248 00:12:22.960 --> 00:12:25.480 Her words felt less natural, as if mouthing a line 249 00:12:25.480 --> 00:12:28.000 should never practiced before she recovered. But I'll find some 250 00:12:28.679 --> 00:12:31.799 When I shifted seats Thomas Tea's moving up in the world, Harold, 251 00:12:31.960 --> 00:12:33.840 but in a way that felt less quirk more, as 252 00:12:33.840 --> 00:12:36.360 if instinct told him to align the scene. I raked 253 00:12:36.360 --> 00:12:40.080 through receipts, text message confirmations, checking each time stump. The 254 00:12:40.120 --> 00:12:43.159 pattern held payment time almost always ten thirteen, to Moss's 255 00:12:43.159 --> 00:12:46.240 audoc joke, always after missus Ecott's third complaint, a pendrop 256 00:12:46.279 --> 00:12:49.879 precisely at ten twenty one. Yet sometimes if I threw 257 00:12:49.919 --> 00:12:52.399 in a disruption, the response was not quite reset, more 258 00:12:52.399 --> 00:12:55.159 of a gentle adjustment, like actors correcting a miscue until 259 00:12:55.159 --> 00:12:58.279 the performance writed itself. When I asked Thomas about it 260 00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:01.399 over a ham sandwich in the corner, he grinned, it's 261 00:13:01.440 --> 00:13:04.200 like a wind up clock in here, right, everyone's on Rales, 262 00:13:04.799 --> 00:13:06.919 he shrug, duding a cartoon of the cafe as a 263 00:13:06.960 --> 00:13:10.519 cookie clock. Actually, it's kind of uncanny on Wednesdays. I 264 00:13:10.559 --> 00:13:12.679 swear I know exactly what pon mister ly will make 265 00:13:12.679 --> 00:13:15.200 before he says it. He shrugged it off at first, 266 00:13:15.279 --> 00:13:17.120 but there was a glimmer of amusement in his eyes 267 00:13:17.159 --> 00:13:20.039 that looked a shade too curious for coincidence. But that's 268 00:13:20.080 --> 00:13:21.879 what's nice about this place. Do you know what's coming? 269 00:13:22.440 --> 00:13:25.360 This felt bigger than favorite seats of Anna's smiling consistency. 270 00:13:25.360 --> 00:13:27.559 It was in physical as much as in the psychological. 271 00:13:28.120 --> 00:13:30.320 This spill powdered sugar at the drop spoon the same 272 00:13:30.399 --> 00:13:32.799 dog out the window at ten thirty three, the sudden cow, 273 00:13:32.919 --> 00:13:35.200 the same squeaking cut from the baker at eleven's eerer. 274 00:13:35.720 --> 00:13:37.879 Each time I tried to intervene, the effect didn't vans 275 00:13:37.879 --> 00:13:40.679 should abslved. My efforts smooth over changes, and somehow returned 276 00:13:40.720 --> 00:13:44.519 to a familiar theme. Curiosity had become fascination, edgery, disbelief. 277 00:13:45.240 --> 00:13:47.480 I began to wonder if mason villere was not simply 278 00:13:47.559 --> 00:13:49.440 a haven for a routine, but a place where routine 279 00:13:49.480 --> 00:13:52.840 itself became an improvisational skirt, one everyone played knowingly or not. 280 00:13:53.600 --> 00:13:56.840 The ambience itself seemed complicit. The gleam from the window 281 00:13:56.840 --> 00:13:59.639 at certain moments, a playless, subtle loop. Anna's voice always 282 00:13:59.639 --> 00:14:02.600 just ahead of a request, even when outside lives churned 283 00:14:02.600 --> 00:14:06.360 to flood notices, street repairs. Weadder inside the loop never 284 00:14:06.440 --> 00:14:08.960 veer on a whim. I broad in a bright blue 285 00:14:09.000 --> 00:14:11.679 copy of the Talented Mister Ripley, entirely unlike my usual 286 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:15.240 puzzle or history gamut. When Nessess Cop saw it, she quipped, 287 00:14:15.360 --> 00:14:17.679 you always do like your American treeg on a wet spring, 288 00:14:17.919 --> 00:14:20.120 a ech of a comment she made word for word 289 00:14:20.159 --> 00:14:23.080 about my detective novel Last week, was it possible the 290 00:14:23.120 --> 00:14:25.120 idea agree bolder each Wednesday, that each of us was 291 00:14:25.200 --> 00:14:27.600 not merely acting from personal habit, but drawn into a 292 00:14:27.600 --> 00:14:30.679 structure larger than memory, self correcting when we strayed too far. 293 00:14:31.360 --> 00:14:33.360 The following week, I scanned my own reflection in the 294 00:14:33.360 --> 00:14:36.759 door's smudged glass before stepping through. At the chessboard, mister 295 00:14:36.799 --> 00:14:39.639 Eli gestured for me to come see his opening tragedy again, 296 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:41.960 as if fruitfully aware of the repetition, but unable to 297 00:14:41.960 --> 00:14:44.919 tip the scene in any other direction. That day, Anna's 298 00:14:44.919 --> 00:14:47.840 movement behind the counter were less brisk, more withdrawn. She 299 00:14:47.919 --> 00:14:50.399 wiped down the steaming machine three times with the same towel, 300 00:14:50.480 --> 00:14:53.200 the same distant look each time. When she brought over 301 00:14:53.240 --> 00:14:55.720 my order tea again by now, I asked half in jess, 302 00:14:55.759 --> 00:14:58.360 are you running a secret play here? Anna? She looked 303 00:14:58.360 --> 00:15:01.159 at me for a long second, Her gaze, usually warm 304 00:15:01.200 --> 00:15:03.840 with an easy confidence, this time held something sharper beneath 305 00:15:03.840 --> 00:15:07.000 a glint of awareness or confession, before she replied, force quiet, 306 00:15:07.159 --> 00:15:09.960 You are one of the observant ones, aren't you. Just 307 00:15:10.000 --> 00:15:12.440 as swiftly, she busied herself in the cutlery, discussing the 308 00:15:12.440 --> 00:15:15.039 weather with Toms across the counter, but I was left 309 00:15:15.039 --> 00:15:16.679 pinned to the floor by that when remark a thread 310 00:15:16.720 --> 00:15:19.960 Tugg flues the glimmer that maybe, just maybe not everyone 311 00:15:20.120 --> 00:15:23.480 was equally inside the script. Anna had noticed my investigation 312 00:15:24.120 --> 00:15:26.320 for the first time. I wondered whether the repetition was 313 00:15:26.320 --> 00:15:28.279 there for me alone, or if it was Annette, subtle 314 00:15:28.320 --> 00:15:31.120 but binding that held us all. A question looped in 315 00:15:31.159 --> 00:15:34.440 my mind, dizzy and liberating. Was Mason rovere gathering of 316 00:15:34.480 --> 00:15:37.639 half conscious actors, each improvising inside story? We agreed never 317 00:15:37.679 --> 00:15:41.039 to fully break to Diana. Did missus Ekhar? Did Tomos 318 00:15:41.080 --> 00:15:43.600 sence the loop only in passing? Was I alone in 319 00:15:43.600 --> 00:15:45.960 my awareness? Or only in my willingness to name it? 320 00:15:46.759 --> 00:15:50.240 The next Wednesday I decided to test the boundaries. Tomos 321 00:15:50.320 --> 00:15:52.759 was the first I suspected might just barely be as 322 00:15:52.799 --> 00:15:56.159 curious as I was. To day, he wore wire rim glasses, 323 00:15:56.320 --> 00:15:58.000 and as he doodle a card a glance. Was it 324 00:15:58.039 --> 00:16:00.720 a signal? During a lull in the morning? A sidle 325 00:16:00.759 --> 00:16:04.000 to his table, Thomas, have you ever had this strange feeling? 326 00:16:04.080 --> 00:16:08.080 Right here? On Wednesday's Dead Things repeat? I kept it casual, careful, 327 00:16:08.679 --> 00:16:12.399 He hesitated, what like de de avous are like everyone's 328 00:16:12.440 --> 00:16:16.480 reading from a really boring old script. I laughed, something 329 00:16:16.600 --> 00:16:19.559 like that, too well worn not to notice his smile 330 00:16:19.639 --> 00:16:23.399 faltered just to touch. Sometimes I catch myself thinking, didn't 331 00:16:23.399 --> 00:16:25.440 this exact thing happen last week? Like I forgot what 332 00:16:25.519 --> 00:16:28.799 day it was. He dropped his pen. It's probably just 333 00:16:28.840 --> 00:16:32.799 a power of routine, or he trailed off. I leaned in, 334 00:16:33.440 --> 00:16:36.240 want to try something next week? He grinned, playful, but 335 00:16:36.279 --> 00:16:38.919 his voice draw up a fraction. Let's see how weird 336 00:16:38.919 --> 00:16:41.840 we can make Wednesdays. The day's riddam hummed on. But 337 00:16:41.919 --> 00:16:44.480 now it was a rehearsal with a partner. Thomas and 338 00:16:44.519 --> 00:16:47.639 I spent in our comparing notes. We agreed next week 339 00:16:47.679 --> 00:16:50.279 we would intervene. He would order from the lunch menu 340 00:16:50.279 --> 00:16:52.720 for breakfast, smoke trout and must of greens instead of 341 00:16:52.759 --> 00:16:55.320 his usual jammy egg tat. I dropped my pen at 342 00:16:55.320 --> 00:16:57.120 a wildly different time, just to see how the script 343 00:16:57.159 --> 00:17:01.039 would accommodate. Anna, perhaps suspicious, watched us from over the 344 00:17:01.039 --> 00:17:04.200 expressum machine, her eyes dancing between skepticism and that glimmer 345 00:17:04.240 --> 00:17:07.079 of recognition I'd caught before. When the day arrived, we 346 00:17:07.079 --> 00:17:10.279 executed our small changes toms an ounce I'll have the 347 00:17:10.319 --> 00:17:14.279 trout salad please. Anna blinked, mouthpart reopen as if looking 348 00:17:14.279 --> 00:17:16.799 through a fog, and said, just need to check if 349 00:17:16.799 --> 00:17:19.799 we have any left. She returned five minutes later with 350 00:17:19.799 --> 00:17:22.400 a barely concealed grin, burying a plate of trout and 351 00:17:22.400 --> 00:17:24.559 the little placard of miss labeled to Day Special, as 352 00:17:24.599 --> 00:17:26.880 if to insist his presence was always part of the morning. 353 00:17:27.480 --> 00:17:29.799 I dropped my pen at nine thirty seven, earlier than 354 00:17:29.799 --> 00:17:32.799 my usual. Act amesss Ecot, seated farther than usual, stood up, 355 00:17:32.839 --> 00:17:35.079 fetched the pen with a smile, and delivered the identical 356 00:17:35.119 --> 00:17:37.880 drop from last week about pens rolling toward good intentions. 357 00:17:38.559 --> 00:17:40.920 She then returned to her seat, resuming the half host 358 00:17:40.960 --> 00:17:44.319 poem verse, almost as if nothing unusual had occurred that 359 00:17:44.440 --> 00:17:46.599 the breeches were there. The record spun a different song 360 00:17:46.680 --> 00:17:48.680 or two, now recognized as a rayby side, yet the 361 00:17:48.759 --> 00:17:50.960 lyrics and mood were earily mashed to the conversation of 362 00:17:51.000 --> 00:17:54.160 the weak prayer mister la. Once, when Tomos placed his 363 00:17:54.240 --> 00:17:56.559 dish at the chest table, joking fish and chess, all 364 00:17:56.640 --> 00:18:00.400 tradition smells like a grandmaster's breakfast. Anna looked from tomos 365 00:18:00.440 --> 00:18:02.880 to me, seemed to shake her head, but recovered instantly. 366 00:18:03.839 --> 00:18:05.680 I caught Anna's eye as she passed. She quirked a 367 00:18:05.720 --> 00:18:08.559 smile one part mischief, one part warning, before tending to 368 00:18:08.599 --> 00:18:11.400 the register. I felt the rhythm of the cafe tilt, 369 00:18:11.440 --> 00:18:13.160 but only slightly. It was as if the place was 370 00:18:13.200 --> 00:18:17.319 capable of absorbing interruptions, then were calibrating itself, folding divergences 371 00:18:17.359 --> 00:18:20.559 back into the scene. That afternoon, after the crowd thin 372 00:18:20.640 --> 00:18:23.200 to moss late across a napkin. It's weird how when 373 00:18:23.240 --> 00:18:25.319 we try to break at the cafe, just asterisk fixes 374 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:27.279 Asterisk things like it needs to run the way it 375 00:18:27.319 --> 00:18:29.720 always has, but not like a trap. It's almost playful. 376 00:18:30.240 --> 00:18:33.920 Anna passed by, collecting plates. You too, look like you're plotting, 377 00:18:34.079 --> 00:18:36.079 she said, with a smile that hovered just a little 378 00:18:36.079 --> 00:18:39.200 too long. Miss ces Ekat told us, ye boys get 379 00:18:39.200 --> 00:18:42.839 bored too easily. Try appreciating a nice, reliable Wednesday. But 380 00:18:42.880 --> 00:18:45.480 then she hummed a snatch from the previous week's song Unaware, 381 00:18:45.559 --> 00:18:48.680 before turning back to her novel. To moss LEYN inquired her, 382 00:18:48.759 --> 00:18:51.279 do you think she knows? I think she knows just 383 00:18:51.319 --> 00:18:54.079 as much as she's willing to let herself notice, I replied, 384 00:18:54.920 --> 00:18:58.000 maybe that's enough. We watched the lost spill of sunlight 385 00:18:58.039 --> 00:19:01.480 retreat over the tiles, the same as everyone. For a moment, 386 00:19:01.640 --> 00:19:03.880 I let myself enjoy the gentle absurdity of it, her 387 00:19:03.960 --> 00:19:06.119 universe or a building where a community call it what 388 00:19:06.240 --> 00:19:09.079 you will, willing to bend, absorb, and recommence. Also, we 389 00:19:09.160 --> 00:19:11.839 might feel at home inside the reliable uncertainty of being known. 390 00:19:12.400 --> 00:19:14.640 But as we watched down arrange the flowers in a vase, 391 00:19:14.720 --> 00:19:17.599 deliberately pausing beside my table, I caught her eye once again. 392 00:19:18.160 --> 00:19:20.799 In a low voice, she said, careful what doors you open, Herold. 393 00:19:21.400 --> 00:19:24.240 She didn't smile this time when she turned away, I 394 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:26.799 wasn't sure if I'd move closer to understanding or only 395 00:19:26.839 --> 00:19:29.799 scratch the surface of a much larger design. What I 396 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:31.720 did know, as I collected my hat and paid the 397 00:19:31.759 --> 00:19:33.759 now ritual sum at the till, was that the repetition 398 00:19:33.880 --> 00:19:35.759 was more than memory. It was a phenomenon that bent 399 00:19:35.799 --> 00:19:38.240 around us, aware of us, gently adapt if a patten 400 00:19:38.279 --> 00:19:40.200 with the will not to be broken but to improvise, 401 00:19:40.920 --> 00:19:42.720