The Fold.

Part one.

Five o’clock and the sign on the door is finally flipped over. The cafe is closed for the day. Steve, the owner, is listening and nodding as he walks back to the counter where Johnny, a big man with a livid scar across his face, is talking loudly. A tall, thin young man with longish hair is sweeping between the tables near the window. Dust motes swirl in the shafts of sunlight.

“Business Studies he said he wants to do: thinks he’s going to sit on his arse at Uni for a couple of years then waltz in and start taking over. I didn’t need any business studies. Just got stuck in: worked on the doors, got to know all the faces. Made me way up the hard way. So I told him, soon as he leaves school he’s getting a job, anything, long as it pays. If he can stick to it, I might take him on, but he does it my way,” Johnny looks over at the man sweeping up and calls out, “What do you reckon, mate? Need an apprentice? Teach my boy to sweep up?”

The young man looks up, smiles, shakes his head and carries on.

“See? Even he can’t use him,” says Johnny.

“Alec there went to Uni,” Steve nods at the young man.

Johnny looks from Steve to Alec and back again, “Who? Him? Well, there you go then: look where it got him. Aye, Alec. What you do at Uni then?”

Alec looks up again, “Maths and philosophy.”

“Maths and what? What’s that, for Christ’s sake?” Johnny scowls.

“Told you,” says Steve, “He’s a clever lad.”

“Clever my arse! He’s pushing a broom round. How clever’s that? Maths and philosophy,” Johnny sneers.

“Seriously. He’s forgotten more than we’ll ever know,” Steve calls over to the young man, “Don’t mind him, Alec. Come and show us that thing you do with the paper.”

Alec looks reluctant,”Oh, I don’t know. Some people don’t like it.”

Johnny frowns but is obviously interested, “What thing with the paper? What’s he do?”

Steve is now full of enthusiasm, “Just you wait. Here, tell you what. I’ve got a tenner here says you can’t work out how he does it.”

“What, like a magic trick? Nah, seen it all, mate. Easy money. Come on, then.” Johnny beckons to Alec as he and Steve put their money on the counter.

“There you go, Alec. Come and show us it,” Steve grins.

Alec shrugs, leans his broom against a table and walks over, “Alright. Have you got any paper?”

“Here,” Johnny hands Alec a photocopied leaflet from his pocket, “And if I can’t work out how it’s done, you get this,” he puts a twenty on the counter with the other notes.

Alec hesitates, but when Johnny starts to curl his lip into a sneer he takes the leaflet and flattens it on the counter.

Both the other men watch closely as he starts to fold. His movements are relaxed and unhurried yet they seem to struggle to follow what he does. Johnny winces like he’s straining his eyes. Within a few movements the leaflet has been folded into an unusual shape: full of planes and angles that seem like they shouldn’t fit together. Johnny frowns and blinks, trying to clear his head, then Alec makes a final fold and the note disappears.

“What?” Johnny jumps back and nearly falls off his stool. Steve laughs but Alec just stands waiting and watching. From the moment he started folding he seemed different, more confident and serious, and his manner is almost as unnerving as the disappearance of the leaflet.

Johnny stands up and kicks his stool back, pointing at Alec, “Don’t move! Don’t move a muscle!” He seems angry and confused, slighted in some way he doesn’t understand, “Show me your hands,” he grabs Alec’s hands and turns them over, then back again, spreading the fingers to check between them, then checks further up the arms. Alec is wearing a short sleeved t-shirt: there is obviously nothing there. Johnny checks the the counter and the floor on both sides of it. Nothing.

He pushes the notes across to Alec and Steve, who stopped smiling when Johnny’s agitation became apparent.

“No, it’s all right, mate. I was only joking about the bet.”

“Take it,” Johnny turns back to Alec, “So, how’d you do it then?”

“I folded it.”

“Yeah, but what did you do with it? Come on, you can tell us now, I’ve give you the money.”

“I don’t have it.”

“Well where is it?”

“It’s gone.”

“Gone where?”

“I don’t know. It’s just gone.”

They stand staring at each other for a moment, the big man breathing heavily, deciding, before he glances at Steve then turns and walks out of the cafe, slamming the door behind him.

Steve looks shaken, “I didn’t think… I shouldn’t have made you show him. You don’t want to get on the wrong side of him.”

Alec shrugs. His reply is flat, without reproach, “I said some people don’t like it,” He walks back over to the tables, picks up his broom and starts sweeping. Dust motes swirl in the shafts of sunlight.

(copyright K.VALIS, 2015)