Saturday, July 4

I've getting a little behind in posting my writing exercises.  Here is one from June 26th on the topic 'Coffee Break'.

“What do you mean, you want a break?”  Jane couldn’t keep the venomous tone out of her voice.  The situation had been coming to a head over the past couple of weeks and, eventually, her anxiety had spilled over during the coffee break when all she needed was a chance to cool down and plan a way forward. 

 Jane still could not believe her good fortune in getting this job at the glitzy new tech. start-up.  The workplace had all the clichés of the genre: open-plan offices, chill-out corners, segways to move around with, unlimited ice-cream and coca cola, and laid-back but inspiring speeches from the two blonde teenagers who had devised the software which under-pinned the enterprise.

With all of this modern approach, the traditional coffee break was still Jane’s favourite part of the day.  For some reason, the room where some of the employees met for coffee was very much of a different era.  There was an old-fashioned urn, belching steam until someone turned it down, the chairs were a motley collection of rejects left behind by previous tenants, and the tables were scarred like old warriors, holding onto their usefulness to the last.  

It was here that Jane had first met Bradley, still a young man but one who chose to hide his youth under clothes he might have inherited from his father: corduroy trousers, collared shirt and tatty unbuttoned cardigan.  Jane couldn’t help wondering whether it was his air of rumpled lack of assurance which had sparked a maternal instinct in her.  For a few weeks, they had chatted over coffee, made tentative approaches to find out about each other and even attempted a date or two. 

Nobody could say it was a whirlwind romance but Jane was comfortable that it was progressing appropriately and she was even considering when might be the best time to suggest she take Bradley along to meet her mother and father.

But now, here he was telling her it was all going too fast and he wanted a break.  Thinking back, she realised there had been hints that all was not well.  Bradley was not as regular an attender at the coffee breaks as he had once been.  He had shown reluctance to meet her after work on a few occasions and, when she invited him to go with her to a girl-friend’s wedding, he had hastily dredged up a prior engagement.  She called it ‘dredged up’ because, looking back, his excuse didn’t have the ring of truth.

Now she was faced with his woebegone expression and plea for a break.  A break, for goodness sake!  You take a break from something which is not particularly pleasant, like weeding the garden, or cleaning the shed.  You don’t take a break from a relationship unless the relationship is starting to become a chore, or the other party in the relationship is no longer the focus of your life.

“Fine!” said Jane, “Take a break, sort yourself out, and ring me when you’ve got your head together.  Or not!”  Jane stormed out of the coffee room, leaving Bradley and the other employees standing with their mouths open.  It was only later she realised that her grand gesture of storming out meant that she could no longer go back, with any dignity.

That afternoon, she resigned from her job at the start-up and applied for a position at the bank where she hoped she would meet eligible men who were a little more serious about their future.