At the table next, an older couple read separate newspapers, now eye-deep in conversation. This and that. This and that. Caffeine. People come and go. The waitress bounces wee-wee-wee all the way home. Barista. A high school boy, all the way in the back, swish-swash-spraying clean the dishes. Rock sax swings the room around and around. People come and go. People come and go. People.

People are in a novel. People in a novel come and go. How does it work? Why do people in a novel do this? Why do people not in a novel do that? Where is this novel going? Diddle-scribble-scrawl, and she’s off the beaten page. Reference and style and subject and it’s all a blur. Rob becomes that man in the coffee shop. Rob has always been that man in the coffee shop. Rob represents man. In a coffee shop. Rob.