a short story..

"bring spring, already" mathew mumbles to himself while milking a large mocha and munching on a whole brand muffin during an early afternoon break at starbucks. mathew sits down by his regular table. two seats. small round table and just enough room for his drink, laptop, his papers, markers, pens and the book he's reading that day. even though he knows his phone at work is ringing off the hook and his employees are trying to call his palm pilot which he put on silent an hour ago, the middle aged wanna-be rockstar uses this time to imagine. forget about the wife and kids. the mortgage, the pressing presentation that's due in a couple of days. it's time for mathew. he lives for this time of day.

even though he loves his life and loves what he does and loves who he's married to and loves the three kids he created with the person he loves, he just likes to imagine. imagine on what would be if things were well, different.

mathew takes a sip of his mocha while checking out the led zepplin site. he reads that he had just missed his childhood favorite band in london earlier on in the month.

"damn, in-laws coming" mathew says firmly as he throws down the spoon that he was using to stir the drink that's been warming his tired body. mathew has always dreamed about doing a back-packing trip around europe which would end by checking out zeppelin in some remote part of the country. mathew starts to think about the next time they'll be there and how he'll explain to his ex-rocker wife that he has to do this voyage alone. it's nothing about not wanting to go on vacation with his loved ones - hell, they just went to universal studios for a few days over the holiday season. he has to live the dream. the one he believes he never lived. the one that he thinks he would be living if well, you know.

stacy, the longest running employee at the starbucks comes by cleaning tables. She says hi to mathew as she stares at him longer than usual.

"what's up, stacy" asks mathew wondering about the long glance.
"oh, sorry mathew but you never showed me those pictures from the trip to l.a you took a couple of months ago with the family."

mathew taps his head and remembers that he had promised the young coffee star that he'd show her the pictures. he quickly goes through his bag and shuffles through his stuff.

"ah. here ya go" mathew says delightfully. "i think i've memorized the order i've kept them in" he whispers.

"why is that?" she asks.

"ahh, i don't know. been looking at them a lot, i guess."

mathew flips through around 100 pictures with stacy while they joke that he actually got them developed and not just downloaded onto his computer. mathew's a old fashioned guy like that.

as he gives a detailed reason why he had soiled his pants while on the e.t. ride, he gets a text message. it's the dry cleaners.


"your wifes blouse is ready for pick-up" it says. mathew starts to pack up his stuff when he gets another message. this time it's from his daughter. she has to be picked up. knowing he has to hurry up, he chugs down his mocha and he thanks stacy for the hospitality.

"back to reality" he moans to stacy.

stacy smiles and says "you're a lucky guy, matt"

matt looks back at her with a thankful smile and states "i'll see ya tomorrow"