Chapter 2/ The Zohan

CHAPTER TWO

The Zohan

I arrived at Starbuck’s early this Tuesday morning.  At 7:30 am, I am the first to arrive. Stacy’s car is not there in the parking lot.  In fact there were no familiar faces as I approach the café with my lap top in tow.   Bobby is there behind the counter, and there are some familiar faces inside reading the morning newspaper.   “Good morning” I say.   “Tall coffee please”.   “How are u today” Bobby asks.  “Very good, and you?”.  I respond.

Bobby is preparing a new photography exhibit.  Actually, it is a new exhibit of his old works. He has samples of the photos on display in the café. And on his Facebook page.   Ah yes, most of our Starbucks group also stays connected through Facebook.  Bobby is no exception.  He even attends many of our gatherings outside of Starbucks.

I fill the coffee with my usual additives, cream and sugar, and proceed to stake a claim to our tables.

I put the two tables together, assemble enough chairs for the regulars and take my seat.  I pull my computer out and start to busy myself with countless emails from customers.  I communicate with my suppliers (they are still awake in China) and they ask me to send funds. I go through a constant battle with shipping and sending funds.  I tell them to ship goods, they say send money. I say I can’t send money unless I get paid for the orders. I can’t get paid unless you ship. Anyway, it’s a constant battle for pennies.

Thus, I decided this book is my ticket to financial success.  So if you were getting bored. Do not stop now.  I have a family to support!

Back to the café………….Stacy pulls up in her silver Porsche. Top down; her hair blowing in the wind.  She parks her car near mine and well within site. 

Stacy is wearing a denim skirt and tight t-shirt.  She is showing off her muscular legs.  Stacy has the morning paper with her, a large shoulder bag and is chatting on her blackberry as she approaches.  She says a quick good morning, puts the paper down in front of me and continues her cell phone conversation as she walks inside to get her morning coffee.

Although she is engrossed in conversation, she did seem to be in a very positive mood.

By the time she comes back outside with her coffee and cup of ice water, I have finished the sports section to the Sun Sentinel and have resumed my emails and instant messenger conversations. 

“My divorce is almost final”.  Stacy says with a sigh of relief.  “Just need Jeff to sign some papers”.

“My lawyer will stop by with them for me to give to Jeff.”    She continues. 

I had seen Stacy and her lawyer conversing at Starbucks before.  Stacy’s lawyer’s name is Zohar, but I call him the “Zohan”.  He is a cocky, I am too cool for myself, lawyer.  He dresses in the same European cut blue suit and dark blue shirt with black suede loafers each time I see him.  He wears no socks and has a five o’clock shadow.

The Zohan has a lit cigarette in his hand and dark Gucci style sunglasses and a Bluetooth receiver in his ear as he approaches our table with an envelope for Stacy.  The Zohan does not look like an attorney, more of an advertising executive. He can’t be over 35, and seems to be spending more time flirting than actually providing legal advice today.

I feel saved from listening to the Zohan when Unice arrives.  Unice is a cute young southern girl, with straight long blonde hair.   She is about 30 years old and still has her baby fat.  She is not fat nor skinny.  She is married, but unless you are looking to buy pot, you generally do not see Unice’s husband Sheldon.  He has never appeared at Starbucks.

Unice originates from New Orleans, and with the popularity of the HBO series True Blood, she reminds us of Sookie Stackhouse.  She bakes for a living, works at another Starbucks part time and is a Yoga instructor as well. 

Unice has spent time trying to capture a niche in baking healthy cupcakes.  Her cupcakes are gluten free.  Healthy comfort food.  Unice also does some catering for private parties.

The one good thing about Unice for me is that she has a passion and weakness for handbags. My website has a number of inexpensive handbags that fit Unice’s style and budget, and over time I will sell several of them to her. 

Zohan and Stacy stand and walk a few feet away from the tables to light up cigarettes.  The stand close together, and chat like they are gossiping rather than like a lawyer chatting with his client.   The Zohan has a flirtatious way about him.  He was talking to Stacy as though subtly trying to hit on her.  He was not, at least I don’t think so, it was simply his manner.  I find Zohan repulsive so it is good that there is a distraction for me.

I turned my attention to Unice.  She was more interesting and refreshing.  She has such a positive energy about her, and usually a smile as well.  She opens a folder and shows me a mock up of advertising material for her business.  “Larry, take a look at this” she says as she gives me some sketches to look at.  “Tell me what you think of the designs”.    The cupcake designs she has prepared are cute, but slightly amateurish.  They reflect Unice.

By 8:15 am Jackie arrives;  she is dressed for work in her jeans and t-shirt.  She is ready to open the Lucky Jeans store at the mall.    She is a part-time manager there.  Working generally from around open ( 9:30 a.m.) to about  1:00 pm.   She is stopping by for her daily tea.  Jackie also assists Unice from time to time.  She will ice some of the cup cakes, maybe even provide delivery services for her from time to time.  Occasional favors.

“Good morning” I say as she walks by.   Our usual morning crowd is filling the tables now. 

The line inside Starbucks is relatively short and Jackie was able to reemerge rather quickly from the café. She takes her usual seat diagonal from Stacy and across from me.  Seems like after awhile we all have our seats.   Stacy has her Obsessive-compulsive disorder. She needs to be in same seat each time otherwise her day is a mess.  But when she is in her seat, we all seem to gravitate to the same seats as well.

From a distance I see Richard strolling over with cigarette in hand.  He had been in the office almost an hour already by the time he was ready for his morning break.  He drops his cigarette as he approaches the tables. He walks behind Jackie places his hands on her shoulders. He proceeds to give her a massage of her shoulders. He does not stop to ask if she wanted a massage he just proceeds.  Jackie is seemingly enjoying his touch.  Apparently, among other attributes and skills, Richard has the touch of a skilled masseuse.  In fact Richard has told us that he studied massage technique. The massage does not last overly long, as Richard is still without his morning java. He makes some small talk to us all.   He pauses and asks “does anyone want anything inside?”.   Thus, the massage ends and he walks into the café.   

I think to myself, the liberties and assumptions some people take.  I would never have walked over and just assumed that Jackie would want a massage.   Richard is the biggest guy in the smallest package.  Perhaps this is his way of being big?

 Other people have joined us on occasion and have also taken liberties that I found annoying.  Israeli Miki for one.  He is a self employed broker for motorcycles among other things.  He is married but his wife never seems to be home. He is always dressed extremely casual in the morning as though he is on holiday or vacation.  He generally sits down next to Stacy or Jackie, pulls an extra chair over just so he could rest his feet.  Miki takes his feet, he is wearing open toe sandals, and lifts them on to a chair. They are staring at me as I drink my coffee.  They are practically touching Jackie’s leg as she sits on the chair next to him.   I am sorry, but I am just not into looking at guys’ feet while I am sitting and having my coffee or eating.  Those feet planted so comfortably next to someone else that is not a true familiar person…not a girlfriend, not a wife.  Is that my OCD? Or is he just plain annoying?

I clear some area for the others to sit and feel relieved that the Zohan will probably feel too uncomfortable or out of place to sit and join us.   There is safety in numbers.

Sitting around the tables with me now is Jackie, Stacy, Richard and Unice. 

Jackie takes a moment to pull the paper from Stacy to read all of our horoscopes for the day.   Stacy takes a look at Unice’s sketches and provides her two cents on the designs.

Talia F  is a young late 20 something mom that has been friends with Stacy and Unice for a while. She lives 20 minutes south of Boca but works in the area part time. When she is working, she joins us at the Starbucks.  She is thin, with long legs and a page boy hair cut with blonde streaks. She is dressed in her True Religion jeans and a plain white blouse. 

Talia F pulls up in her big SUV and walks over to our group of tables.  Talia’s husband David is a fireman. When he is not working he is an avid fisherman and a lover of tattoo body art.  He is constantly doing work and Talia is showing pictures at the table of the tattoo work in progress. 

She also shows off the latest pictures of her little boy, Hayden.  He looks like her husband.  Hayden is about 24 months with a very big smile on his face.  His hair is spiked and he sits on the floor with their pit bull puppy. The personality of the parents expressed so clearly in the baby.

Richard emerges from the café and joins the rest of us at the tables.  Stacy is finishing her cigarette and saying her goodbyes to the Zohan.  

Richard has also known Talia for a while, and when he sees her it is like a father giving his daughter a hug and kiss on the cheek.  He puts his coffee down and slowly walks over to Talia to give her a hug.  

I notice that Richard has three women of the group that he shows affection for.  Tammy, Jackie and Talia F. seem to be his favorites.   Others, like Unice and Stacy don’t warrant the affection.

Richard hugs Talia, makes some small talk and sits down across from me. He grabs the sport section from the table in front of me as I was not reading it at the moment.

There is no real main topic of conversation for the day.  Talia’s appearance seems to occupy everyone’s attention. There is lot’s of small talk. I feel like I am living an episode from the Seinfeld show.