City Blend is a collection of short stories I have been working on for the past two years. I expect to have a book of them complete by November of 2010. They are a fictional account of my experiences running Cafe del Sol, a gourmet coffee shop, in Scranton, Pennsylvania.
Tim is the first story in the collection. It tells of the day-to-day hustle and bustle of the cafe on a hot summer day. We meet Hank, the cafe owner, who is trying to quit smoking. Tim, a meter reader and fellow smoker, stops in for a cup of City Blend as he always does. The day ends much differently than usual for both Tim and Hank.
Francis is the story of how Hank had a profound impact on a movie director and his film.
Gary is a favorite customer of Hank's. He's a mild mannered middle class guy who lives in the small town of Carbondale where he runs a small business of his own. But Gary's history doesn't add up. When he tells Hank of his previous profession, Hank doesn't believe him.
Ed is a novella about the friendship between cafe owner Hank and his childhood friend Ed. Their relationship is strained as adults. Ed's difficult behavior and habit of causing Hank problems results in conflict between the two men. When Ed attempts to take his own life, he goes to Hank, who is reluctant to help Ed.