Prompt: a) Free theme, including the possibility of a revision of an earlier theme in which you give special attention to voice or dialogue. Or b), write a scene of dialogue in which two people meet after some event, known to both, has altered their relations to each other.
Note: I am writing on choice (b) for this prompt.
The October morning haze of the New England town was just lifting as Pierce entered Jack’s Coffee. A local haunt for as long as anyone could remember, Jack’s had been the only independent coffee seller to bat off the advance of Starbucks, mainly because of an innovative filtering process that just made the coffee taste oh so good. Pierce held “office hours” of sorts every morning at Jack’s, where anyone in the town who wanted to talk to the young professor would know where to find him. As he sat down with his vanilla steamer, Jack heard the door slam behind him. Isabelle had come to office hours.
“Isabelle! What a…surprise to see you here.” Pierce knew that Isabelle would normally be working at this time. Pierce knew everything about Isabelle.
“Yeah, I, uh, wanted to talk to you.” Isabelle looked at the floor after she had approached Pierce’s bench in the corner of the dim shop.
“Listen, I…really enjoyed your party on Saturday. You and, uh, Pete must be so happy. A baby boy on the way!” Pierce’s sunken eyes betrayed his best effort at a cheery tone.
“Thank you for coming. I think…Pete really appreciated your gift. He mentioned to me later…that it was nice meeting you.” Isabelle’s eyes were still fixed on the floor, picking out and tracing the lines in the old wood.
“You know, we could…” Pierce knew they couldn’t.
“You know we can’t. It’s not, uh, about us anymore.” Isabelle’s fingers traced lines over her stomach.
Pierce nodded and looked at the table. Before his head rose, he heard the door of Jack’s slam again.
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