Mocha Madness

Date: 8/1/2020

I was in my local Panera, standing in line behind a rich-looking man who ordered two coffees. As he was handing him the coffee, the barista said, “Whoops, I almost gave you a mocha.” I thought a mocha sounded pretty good, so I ordered one and the barista started making it. It was an overly-long process that involved mixing milk with hot water and a bunch of other weird steps. I was the only customer there, only half the lights were on, and the pastry case had been cleared out— it was like they had started closing and hadn’t told me. The barista stopped making my drink (it wasn’t done, he just stopped) and walked over to the corner of the counter, where there were suddenly two people standing. The woman introduced herself as Anna and the teenage boy she was with introduced himself as Lee. Somehow I could tell those weren’t their real names. The barista started to give a different name, then stopped and introduced himself as Silas. Suddenly I was in a completely different room. It wasn’t set up to be a theater, and there wasn’t enough space, but there was a large crowd watching a play. Silas, Anna, Lee, and a bunch of other people were acting. The room was so small that the audience was almost touching the actors, and in order for someone to get on or off stage they had to squeeze past a bunch of people. I don’t remember what the play was about, but I think I remember a scene where Silas was trying to find a place to spend the night while on the run from the police.