I decided to do something lighthearted this time around. Sadly, I think my dark stuff is better, but I had fun with this. It’s more than 1k, but not by too much. Hope you enjoy it.
A Trio’s Dream
Two American black women stretched and adjusted their hair as they exited their rental car. One donned a stylish afro with a tribal headband in front and the other had silky microbraids she pulled out of a ponytail. The two women looked around an empty courtyard with one old and abandoned storefront. The town was cute and the locals friendly, but the friends had their reservations.
Sheila, the older of the two, flipped some braids over her shoulder. “Fynn, how’s your French?”
Fynn hugged her chest, “I don’t have any.”
“Really? Didn’t you have to take a foreign language in school?”
Fynn shuffled towards the shop entrance and looked in before stepping away from the glass. “Sí, señorita, but it wasn’t French.”
A breeze blew a twig into Sheila’s hair and Fynn quickly covered her afro with her headband, which turned out to be a scarf. Sheila huffed, “Who’s idea was this anyway?”
“Oh, don’t be that way. It’s nice.” Fynn smiled and nudged Sheila with her elbow. “It’s quaint and peaceful.”
Sheila smirked, “Quaint and peaceful is just a nice way of saying small and deserted.”
Fynn giggled, “You’re not wrong. This place is on the verge of being creepy with this level of quiet, but I’m sure things will turn around when Gale gets here.”
“I hope so,” Sheila quipped, finally freeing the twig from her braids. “This is the first time I’ve ever regretted arriving early.”
The wind settled and Fynn replaced the scarf around her forehead. “It was your idea to get here early to scope out the place on our own.”
Another rental car pulled into the courtyard after waiting for some goats to cross. “Shoosh,” Sheila fluttered her hands. “Here she comes. Just be casual and supportive. Let’s hear her out.”
Fynn scoffed and whispered, “Don’t shoosh me. I’ve been nothing but supportive from the start.”
Gale rushed towards her friends, the youngest of the 30 years plus trio, with open arms, her hair pulled up into elaborate twists all over her head. “Hey ladies. I should have known you guys would beat me here. I hope you haven’t looked around too much without me.”
Fynn smiled wide. “Oh, Gale no. We only just arrived. We’ve been loving this lovely French countryside.”
“Yass, girl.” Sheila exaggerated. “I can’t wait to see all the tourist spots of Paris, but I can totally see why you brought us out to the country first. It’s so quaint here.”
Fynn tilted her head to the side. “Oh yeah, it’s quaint. You know quaint is her new favorite word.”
Sheila put her hands on her hips. “Fine Fynn, so I stole your word.”
Gale took in a deep breath. “Ok guys, seriously. Let’s get real. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but you have to imagine how it will look when I’m finished with it.”
Fynn hugged herself again. “You really think people will leave the convenience of the city to come out here to an American-owned café in the country?
Gale squared her shoulders. “Yes, I do. Besides this café is just one part of the dream and not just my dream. This is about all of us.”
Fynn dropped her arms and Sheila stepped closer to the storefront and turned. Sheila asked, “What does your dream of a French café have to do with us? I don’t even drink coffee.”
Fynn snapped, “Oh get off it Sheila, you drink tea. Will you just let her speak? I want to know where I fit into this as well and I’m making an effort to be open-minded.”
“Right, cause I’m always the close-minded bad guy.” Sheila tapped her foot with her arms across her chest.
Gale reached out and placed a hand on each woman’s shoulder. “Sheila, you’re not the bad guy, but I did bring you here for your skepticism and I brought Fynn for her optimism. I care what both of you think.”
Sheila huffed. “Ok, fine. How do we fit into this dream of yours?”
Gale smiled and turned to Fynn. “You design houses as a hobby. You have no formal training, yet you have files and files of homes and shops you’ve designed sitting in storage. We know that those long weekends you disappear off to are Habitat for Humanity builds. Whenever you get fed up with the complications of your life, you go off to help build a home for someone else. I want you to design and help build my dream café.”
Fynn’s eyes began to bulge. “Whoa, Gale you’re asking a lot. Those plans are in file cabinets for a reason. I don’t have the skill to do this. Plus, taking a weekend to put up a Habitat house is not the same as building a café. I still have to work my day job and pay my bills.”
“No kidding, Gale,” Sheila chimed in. “That’s a lot. I can only imagine that you expect me to bake for your little café.”
Gale replied without hesitation. “Of course, I do. I want you to do what you do best. And since this is France and not the US, we don’t have to stick to a set menu. We’ll literally serve whatever you feel like making from day-to-day.”
Sheila’s eyes too began to bulge. “From day-to-day. Do you expect us to move to France?”
Gale blinked and replied, “Yes, yes I do; divorcè 1 and 2 with no kids. I expect you to leave behind your mundane lives in the US and join me on an adventure in France.” Gale lifted her hand and pointed her palm towards her friends. “And before you bombard me with a list of reason’s why this won’t work, I just want to say that I won the lottery. I’m currently a millionaire.”
Fynn stopped breathing and Sheila wrapped her hand around Gale’s shoulders. “Gale, have you gone coo-coo for Cocoa Puffs? Did you just say you won the lottery?”
“Yes, I did.”
The two friends looked at each other and then back at Gale with tears forming in their eyes. They asked, “You’re rich?”
Gale answered, “Yes I am.”
Both women began to shake their heads and toss out questions. “When? How? What?”
Gale stroked each woman’s cheek and helped them breathe in and out as she explained. “Sixty days ago I had some change in my pocket and decided to buy a ticket for the first time. I was the only person in line who wasn’t there for a ticket. When I realized I won, I kept everything quiet and started making plans. I didn’t want to draw any attention to myself and asked to be kept out of the news.”
All three women embraced, cried, and jumped up and down. Sheila was the first to speak. “WTF! Gale, are you really a freak’n millionaire? I’m so happy for you!”
“Yes, I am but this isn’t just about me. I want to share my blessing with my two best friends- my sisters. I want to make all our dreams come true.”
After a few more minutes of crying and hugging, Gale showed her friends around the space of the storefront and explained what she hoped to do with it. Fynn meekly interjected, “Gale, what’s the theme for this place? It doesn’t look much like a café right now.”
Gale smiled, a twinkle in her eyes. “I was thinking Rhapsody in Blue meets Van Goh- Caffe Terrace.”
The ladies squealed and jumped up and down pleased with Gale’s vision. As they caught their breath Fynn began to have a pained expression on her face. When she realized her friends stared at her with concern, she stated her dilemma.
“I’m just worried about who’s gonna do our hair? I like to keep my afro tight.”
~
FCA- 1307 words- A Trio’s Dream 2020 Copyright © Toinette J. Thomas
(Updated 2-21 to fix typos. If you still see some, let me know. Thanks, bunches.)
Please visit other entries in this hop and enjoy some funny, scary, touching, and thought-provoking stories. You’ll be so glad you did.
Thank you for taking the time to read this post. If you like it let me know and share it with others. See you next time, Toi Thomas. #thetoiboxofwords
47 replies on “Cafe Terrace #WEPFF Challenge featuring A Trio’s Dream #amwriting #flashfiction”
That was FUN! I love the hair tie-in at the end!! Looks like the 3 will be learning to parlez en francias 🙂
Yes, I suppose they will.
Hi,
This is humorous! Who’s going to do my hair? I don’t think she’ll have any problems in France. I like the friendship between the three women, one makes it but doesn’t forget her best girlfriends forever.
The story is a light side of you that I enjoyed discovering.
Shalom aleichem,
Pat G
Thank you. I’ve been thinking a lot about friendship lately and this is the result.
I love happy endings, but Fynn has a valid concern. Who is going to do her hair?
From what I understand, the French are well schooled in styling black women’s natural hair. Just not sure if it’s expensive or not.
Smiling broadly.
And confident that Fynn will find someone to do her hair.
Glad you liked it. It was fun to try something lighter.
I think you underestimate your humorous writing. I had a few LOL moments in a very short piece. I loved the last line in your piece. It was a perfect way to wrap it up.
Some typos you might take a look at: hear, should be here, American-own, should be American-owned, list of reason’s–reasons shouldn’t have an apostrophe. Coocoo or coo-coo seem to be the preferred spelling.
Congrats on a humorous job well done.
Thanks for finding those typos. I find I make more mistakes when writing out of my comfort zone. So glad to have WEP to help with that.
I want a friend like Gale. Won the lottery! Awesome! A CAFE TERRACE type van Gogh cafe! Wonderful. Great dialogue Toi. You’ve used it to tell a story. Nothing dark about this one, except skin color I guess. Has a nice little circular pattern where the end reflects the beginning.
Thanks for a sweet February story for the prompt!
Thanks for picking up on the connection from the beginning and the end. I was worried readers would wonder why I mentioned their hair then spent most of the time talking about the storefront and friends. I guess I did that well. Glad you liked it.
Great story telling through dialogue. Cute and fun flash, really liked the humour. I guess the women will just have to learn to do each other’s hair till someone from the big city opens up the requisite hair salon close to their new cafe! Thanks for a lovely read.
That would be great if a hair salon opened up next to their cafe. Love it.
Enjoyed the ending. Maybe they could hire a stylist as a different section of the café?
Just a small typo: In paragraph 11 ‘here’ is written as ‘hear’.
Thanks for finding the typo.
Since Gale is rich, I’m sure they’ll get their hair situation figured out.
Glad you liked it.
So who is doing the hair?? Ha..I loved that! The whole story sounds so much like a dream I’d like to live. There were a few typos, so the proof reading bit can be looked into. But that warning in the beginning wasn’t needed. You do narrate humour well!
Thanks for the compliment. I always feel like I’m trying to hard when I’m trying to be funny, so I’m glad the humor came off well.
This is such a fun piece! If I were divorced with no kids, I’d probably say yes to such an adventure myself! It would be so exciting! Thank you for sharing this with us!
I’m glad you liked it. I can only imagine the adventures I’d have if I won the lottery.
That was a wonderful, entertaining story, Toi. I loved the interaction, the humour, the distinct characters, and the punchlines – the lottery win and the hair. Plus, the vision – Rhapsody in Blue meets Van Goh- Caffe Terrace – created images and sounds in my head.
Query on punctuation use: your dialogue tags have a ‘comma’ before the dialogue – which is correct, I believe. I use a ‘comma’ with ‘said/say’. But I use a ‘full stop’ with more descriptive tags/phrases. Is that wrong? I’m turning to you as the more experienced writer.
You know what, dialogue has always been a struggle for me. WEP has helped a lot, but I’m still getting the hang of it. I still rely heavily on an editor before going to publication.
I’m glad you enjoyed the story.
I think this is a wonderful and sweet story, and that Gale is exactly the kind of person who deserves to win the lottery.
I think it’s rather sad that writers tend to feel like they have to apologize for writing dark fiction. We shouldn’t apologize for that. The Universe is not entirely a happy place.
I like writing dark fiction and feel it’s what I’m generally better at. It’s lighter stories that I worry so much over. I always feel like I’m trying too hard. I guess I should stop apologising for anything I write and simply be greatful I have the desire. WEP, IWSG, and other organizations continue to help hone my ability to write well.
What a great way to share the dream. I’m so glad you decided to do the lighter side. It definitely works! Wonderful story. I’d love to read another installment or two with the building of the dream and the discovery of romance for all the girls. 🙂
Third time trying to comment. Eventually, I’ll figure it out. 🙂
Yay! I did it! Hi, Toi!
Never thought about continuing their story, but I like the idea.
Sorry you had such a hard time leaving a comment. I’m glad you were able to figure it out.
I love this story, Toi. It’s a wonderful tale of friendship, using humor and clever dialogue. Brilliant!
Thank you so much Tricia. That really means a lot coming from you.
That was fun, everyone’s dream – to win the lottery. Guess you have to buy a ticket to win, lol. I leave that to my husband. Yes, money fixes everything!
It’s a nice idea, a fantasy really. Glad you liked it.
This is a lovely piece, what an adventure these three will have in France, they could always have a weekend in Paris and get their hair done!
Oh, I like that idea of a weekend in Paris to get their hair done.
Winning the lottery does make a big difference. They are free to do whatever they want now – including that cafe.
Yes, it’s a nice idea. I can only imagine being able to do whatever I want. Like to think I’d do some good.
Hi Toi – this is quite delightful … and yes her hair will be so important, especially in a new country and in a new business. But great – oh I’d love to have a friend like Gale and be part of a happy trio!! But certainly lots more tales here … congratulations – cheers Hilary
Thanks, Hilary. I hadn’t thought about more stories, but perhaps I have more in me.
That was a great read. I enjoyed the balancing act between the two friends – one so suspicious and the other optimistic. I enjoyed that the thread of the hairtye was carried through to the end. I loved the story, the generosity of Gale and the dream come true aspect of three friends living together in France.
I’m glad the hair part worked. I was really worried about that.
Wow, Toi , that was really fun. The back of beyond in France.
However you won’t find many rundown unoccupied stores or cafes, even in the countryside in this day and age … As to goats roaming freely, we haven’t had those in France since the beginning of the 1900s.
Loved the dialogues, I can picture and hear your three friends so vividly. Well done.
I wasn’t trying to get political (don’t care much for politics), but after Googling “Are there goats in France,” I was fascinated by the results. I decided to throw a few goats into the France of my story.
There are lots of goats, we even make cheese …. but they are safely in fields or indoor pens in the winter, close to the milking facilities. I’ll go see Google to see what crazy things they say … ha, ha, ha ….
What a delightful read! I found the three characters so interesting! I hope you write more about their adventures or misadventures!
Nice entry. Thanks for sharing.
Glad to see WEP is still going strong!
Oh this put such a big smile on my face!
What a light and funny story – well done! Love it.
So much fun. Thank you