About Mr. Plum
by Sue Brown
37 pages / 10100 words
ISBN: 978-1-61040-212-5
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Dave picks up coffee every morning at the train station on his way to
work. He can't help but notice when the man in front of him is given a plum-colored
cup holder, as it goes perfectly with his own tie. There are other things he
can't help but notice, like how hot "Mr. Plum" is.
When Mr. Plum hands over a cup of coffee, exactly how Dave likes it, the
morning he's late getting to the station, it's the start of a beautiful
friendship. Or is it?
Sample
It was the color of the sleeve that Dave noticed, a
deep plum that matched the stripe on the tie Tom was wearing. Dave always
noticed things like that. He had a keen eye for detail. Dave was green with
envy; he had never been given that sleeve. Plum was by far and away his
favorite color, and yet the world and the coffee shop on the station had
never seen fit to give him a plum sleeve on Dave’s morning drink.
He didn't get it this time either. His was red. It was a deep red and it
wasn't bad, but it wasn't plum and it made Dave grit his teeth in
frustration. He could hardly demand that Kai, the barista with a huge smile
who made him industrial strength coffee every morning at no extra charge,
hunt through cardboard sleeves until he found a plum one. Yeah, he could
just see how well that would go down with the queue of bleary-eyed commuters
behind him. So he just smiled thinly and, clutching his coffee, followed Mr.
Plum, for want of a better name, out of the tiny coffee shop on platform
four, to await the 8:50 to London Waterloo.
The lucky man wandered farther up the platform than Dave normally stood, his
nose buried deep in his Kindle. He didn't seem to notice the covetous
glances Dave had been casting at his coffee cup. The train arrived and they
both got on, Mr. Plum in another carriage. Dave was lucky enough to find a
seat, and he sat, sipping at his coffee, with the crimson sleeve around his
cup. If the coffee tasted a little bitter to him, maybe that was just an
added dash of sour grapes -- plum colored, of course.