It Happened At the Giddy Goose Cafe

Colm sat at his favourite table in the Giddy Goose Café and scanned the newspaper.The table positioned by the window caught the best of the morning light.It fell across the page and highlighted the jobs section on the right hand-side.His eyes travelled down the black print as he pretended not to watch Magda, the Polish waitress, work the hissing coffee machine behind the counter.
It had been almost seven months since the company made him and forty others redundant.It had been unexpected.He was one of the longest serving members of staff.He knew that he shouldn't have taken so much time off when his mother had become ill last year.Still, he wouldn't have changed that.He had nursed his mother in the months leading up to her death and those moments, though the toughest of his life were also the most precious.He didn't want some stranger caring for the woman who had taught him everything.
Magda was serving another customer.Her boss was in today, an over-weight Arab who watched her from behind the counter.Sometimes, when the boss wasn't there, she stood and talked to him.She told him that she was an English teacher.She'd come to Ireland three years ago and had got a teaching job in a language school in Bray, but now it was difficult to get a job as a language teacher, particularly when you weren't a native speaker, so she'd decided to take the job serving tables until something else turned up.
When Magda approached him with a smile, he ordered his usual Americano.He didn't have the money to waste on eating out in cafes, but he liked his daily conversation with Magda.It beat trying to read his paper in the dull lighting of his basement flat.He didn't even know what the weather was like in that place.There were no windows.Sometimes he felt like he was going to suffocate.
'Anything in there today?' Magda said, as she pointed her pen at the open paper.
Colm shook his head.Magda cast a glance at the fat man behind the counter.
'Well, let me know if you see anything.This place is driving me crazy.'
She winked at him, tucked her notebook in the pocket of her blouse and disappeared behind the counter.Colm closed the paper and looked at the front page.Airline workers were picketing.Teachers were crying out over pay cuts, and the taxi men were on strike.The whole country was in a fucking mess and nobody was doing anything to sort it out.It made him so mad.Magda had been the target of racial abuse.She told him how she'd walked out of her house one morning to find 'Polskis Out' written in spray paint across the façade.Somebody had to do something before the situation spiralled out of control.
'How are you doing today?' Magda asked as she put a steaming coffee before him.
'I went for an interview yesterday, but apparently I'm over-qualified for the job.Unbelievable, isn't it?'
Magda smiled and shook her head.
'Listen, what time do you finish today?'
The question was out of his mouth before he had time to think about it.
Magda glanced at the wall clock.
'Today I finish at five,' she said.
'Would you like to get a coffee or something?'
'I'm sorry...I can't today.I'm visiting some friends for dinner.'
Colm shrugged.
'That's okay, it was just an idea.'
Magda hesitated.
'I could meet you tomorrow if you like.It's my day off.'
'Sure, that would be great.How about two o' clock?I could meet you here.'
Magda smiled.'Okay, but no coffee.I'm so sick of coffee.'
Colm laughed as he watched her move away.
It wasn't quite two o'clock when Colm found himself standing outside the café.He kept tapping his feet on the pavement.Through the glass he saw a different waitress serving the tables. She was a tall, blonde girl that he'd not seen before.Then he saw Magda making her way down the street.She was wearing tight blue jeans and boots.Her dark hair was loose and hung past her shoulders.
'Hey, I almost didn't recognise you without the uniform,' he said.
He kissed Magda's cheek a little awkwardly and she looked at the ground.He drew back and looked at her.
'Are you okay?'
'Not really, they broke the windows in the house last night.'
'Who did?'
'I don't know.The same ones that sprayed the graffiti, I guess.I was sitting in the living room watching TV when a rock came through the window.Then they did the upstairs windows, too.My flatmate, she was in bed when it happened. There was glass everywhere.'
'Jesus.Was she okay?'
'Yes.Just shocked.We all were.I don't know how much more of this I can put up with.We told the landlord.He didn't say it, but I think he wants us to leave.He can't keep paying for the damage done to his house.'
Colm shook his head.
'I'll bet it's not even racial.It's some dumb kids looking for an excuse to do harm.They don't care about jobs.Their parents probably never worked a day in their lives - they have dozens of kids and live off the government.'
'I don't know.I think they resent us.Look, let's forget about it for now.What do you want to do?'
'I thought we might go for a walk, if that's okay?'
'Sounds great.'
Magda was talkative.She told him about her hometown, a small village outside Krakow.Her mother lived there with her two younger sisters.
'I have a son,' she said.'He's ten years old.'
She glanced at him sideways and he knew that she was trying to gauge his reaction.
'Who takes care of him?' he said.
'My mother.You must think I'm terrible, right?To go away and leave my son?'
Colm shook his head.
'Why did you do it?'
Magda looked away into the distance, past the boats that bobbed in the harbour.
'I couldn't take him with me, and I just had to get away.'
'What's his name?'
'Danek.In English it's Daniel.'
'You must miss him.'
Magda nodded, dug her hands deep in her coat pockets and walked on.
'I'd hoped to bring him here when I had enough money to find a decent place to live and I could send him to school.That's not going to happen now.'
They stopped at the end of the pier and sat on the low wall that looked out to the open sea.A man played a banjo a few feet away.The strains carried on the same wind that lifted Magda's hair.The man swayed as he played, as though hypnotised by his own melody.Magda brushed her hair back from her face.He wanted to kiss her, but he didn't.He was surprised a few minutes later when she told him she'd like to see where he lived.
Colm's footsteps slowed as he reached the flat.
'It's just down here,' he said.
Magda followed him down the darkened stairway.He wished he'd cleaned up earlier.He hadn't even put all of his things away and they lay in cardboard boxes around the room.
'I'm sorry about the mess.I moved in here a few months ago, but haven't got around to unpacking.'
He flicked the wall switch and a naked bulb in the ceiling semi-illuminated the dull room.
Magda looked around.He saw her take in the unmade bed; his clothes and books thrown haphazardly round the floor.They drank tea in the dim light and talked some more.He told Magda about his mother, about how difficult it had been watching her deteriorate, and how helpless that had made him feel.She sympathised.She didn't like to be away from her family.For the first year she had phoned home every day.She had a photo of Danek in her wallet.He was grinning at the camera, a gap-toothed smile.He didn't look anything like Magda, and Colm wondered about the child's father, but decided not to ask.
When he woke, Magda was sitting at the edge of the bed pulling her boots on.
'What time is it?'
'It's early.I need to get home and change.I've got work today.'
Her voice was a whisper in the gloom.
'Do you mind if I turn the light on?'
'No, go ahead.'
He stretched and felt the weight lift as Magda felt her way towards the light switch by the door.
She went into the bathroom, a pocket-sized en suite, and through the open door he watched her comb her hair.She leaned close to the mirror and applied her make-up with care.
'Do you want coffee?' he asked.
'I don't drink coffee,' she said.
'Tea then?There's some cereal if you want to eat before you go.'
'No, it's okay.'
He threw back the covers and searched on the floor for his jeans.
Magda crossed the room and kissed him.
'I'll see you later,' she said.'An Americano, right?'
He laughed as she blew him a kiss and the door closed behind her.
At ten o' clock Colm picked up his paper in the usual newsagent's and made his way towards the Giddy Goose Café.The tall blonde waitress smiled at him as he took his seat by the window.He figured that Magda was in the kitchen and he opened his paper and waited for her to appear.
When the blonde girl came to take his order, he began to worry.Perhaps Magda was avoiding him.Maybe she'd decided that it was a mistake.He looked past the girl towards the kitchen.
'Isn't Magda here today?'
'No.She phoned in, so I'm covering.What can I get you?'
Colm closed his paper.
'Is she sick?'
'I don't know.I just got a call to say that she wasn't coming in.'
The girl stood before him waiting to take his order.
'Actually, I've got to go,' he said.
He grabbed his jacket and went outside.
When he phoned Magda he hadn't expected her to pick up.He suspected that she was avoiding him.
'Colm.Can I come over?' she said.
He went straight home and waited for her to arrive.He spent his time tidying things away.He straightened the bed covers, threw his dirty clothes in a black sack and left it by the door to take to the launderette.He was just washing the dirty cups when he heard the doorbell ring upstairs and he ran up to answer it.
'Magda, what's wrong?'
'They threw some kind of explosive in a bottle through the front door last night.My flatmate is in hospital.The glass exploded and went into her eye.She may lose her sight.The landlord has asked us to leave.He says it's not safe for us to stay there any more.Why are they doing this to us?'
Tears streamed down her face.Colm put his arm around her and guided her down the stairs.
'You can stay here for as long as you like,' he said.
Magda shook her head.
'Your prime minister needs to do something in this country,' she said.'It wasn't like this when I arrived.The people were different, friendlier.Now everyone is out for what they can get.You can see it in the streets, in the papers.The crime will only get worse.'
Colm sat Magda down and made her some tea.She was shivering despite the stuffiness of the flat.She held the mug between her hands and Colm draped a blanket round her shoulders.He sat on the end of the bed and watched her.
'I've decided to return to Poland,' she said.'Things are getting better there.Maybe I can find a job.Danek needs me.'
Colm wanted to protest.He wanted to tell her that he needed her, too, but he knew how ridiculous that would sound.He hardly knew her.
'When will you go?' he asked.
'In a few days, I don't have anything to keep me here.'
She put her hand on his knee.
'You're a nice man,' she said.'It's a pity I didn't meet you before, but it would just have made things harder.'
He nodded.
'What will you do if you don't find a job?' she said.
Colm shrugged.'Maybe I'll go back to college, study something else and hope that the economy has improved by the time I've finished.Maybe I'll visit Poland and see how you and Danek are doing.'
'I'd like that.'
Magda put her head against his chest and he held her.Their time together had been short.He glanced at the front of the paper where he'd thrown it on the bed.There was a write-up on NAMA and how it was going to save the country.He was glad that his mother hadn't seen him losing his job.She'd have worried so much about his future.Magda's breath was warm on his arm.He smoothed her hair and held her closer.He figured it would be a long time before he would feel this way again.