The Corbus Grand
Noon
Come Alone
'Mr. Snape?'
'Dr. Snape.'
'Yes…er…I'm sorry.'
'Mr. Potter.'
'Nurse Potter.'
Silence, the arching of a perfect eyebrow.
'Er…'
'Perhaps you would care to sit. To my knowledge these chairs are perfectly suitable for a matron.'
'Nurse.'
The eyebrow rises again.
'Are you going to eat anything?'
'Quite.'
'Right…'
'Perhaps, Nurse Potter, you would care to tell me why you have left this atrocity in your wake?'
A business card made of cheap paper is passed across a wooden table.
'You left yours for me.'
'I assure you, that if I had, it was purely accidental.'
Nervous shuffling in a blue and white striped cloth chair.
A waitress arrives.
'Does either of you gentlemen need a menu?'
'No.'
'Yes.'
A menu slides across the wooden table. Work roughened hands grasp it. An eyebrow arches at the quaking paper.
'Another glass for you, sir?'
A nod.
Merlot falls, blood red into a glass. Long fingers grasp the stem as glasses read a menu marked with food stains.
'Would you like anything to drink?'
Owlish eyes blink at a plump woman with a waitressing apron slung low about the hips.
'Do you have any tea?'
'Certainly, the flavours are on the back.'
The menu is turned over.
'Chai would be excellent, thank you.'
A longhaired head nods as the plump woman walks away.
'Chai?'
'Yes…rather good I think. It's a black tea from India.'
'Quite.'
Nervous shuffling. The blue and white striped cloth chair creaks.
'Why have you pursued me, Mr. Potter?'
'Don't you know?'
The waitress returns with a steaming mug in her hands.
'Have you decided on an order yet?'
Two voices speak as one.
'Fish and Chips, light on the salt.'
Blue eyes set in a plump face blink, stunned.
'My, you two certainly have…similar taste.'
Silence.
'Fish and chips it is then.'
The plump waitress walks off.
Green eyes blink owlishly and soft lips curve in a smile.