by Matthew Fetterman

    Alone.
    So alone.
    He contemplated his cup of cappachino as he sat in the coffeehouse. He thought of his girlfriend, who had dumped him so coldly. About four years ago. Everyone around him seemed so happy, talking away, smiling and laughing. Not him, isolated, morose.
    He listened to the people behind him. Behind him, a woman with a pleasantly musical voice was telling a story, and Jimmy listened. "So I was working in the bookstore," she explained, "and this woman came in and wanted a book on anger management. I told her we didn't have any books on that." "So then what?" asked her female companion. "Oh, nothing happened. But I teased her about it. Asked her if she was going to get mad at me and start throwing things! She took it pretty well, she thought it was funny, too."
    Jimmy turned in his seat to look at the speaker. She had long, dark hair and a nice smile, and looked vaguely familiar. Jimmy frowned. She was looking at him, and had the same puzzled expression on her face. "Now where do I know you from," Jimmy asked himself, although he must have said it aloud.
    "The bookstore," she said. "You're the guy who always buys those Star Trek novels."
    Jimmy smiled. "That's right. Ah, I didn't mean to interrupt your conversation."
    "No, not at all. Come sit with us!"
    Jimmy picked up his chair and moved it over. "My name's Jimmy," he offered. "Funny, I must have seen you many times, but we never introduced ourselves." "My name's Rose. This is my friend Emma and her boyfriend Rick."
    "Nice to meet y'all," said Jimmy. "I'm a student here at Gonzaga. Studying Comparative Lit."
    "Oh," said Rose. "I was always so bad at essays, I could never do that..." Jimmy and Rose talked about where they were from, and what their goals were. At some point, Emma and Rick excused themselves, but Jimmy and Rose barely noticed. Jimmy found himself becoming more and more attracted to Rose, and he could tell that she liked him, too.
    "Yeah, Gonzaga has been great for me," Jimmy was saying. "I got to play on their football team-"
    "Rose!" a voice boomed. Jimmy turned in alarm, to see a fifty-ish man, with long hair and a little pot belly. The man, well over six feet, towered over Jimmy, who stood about five-foot seven. But Jimmy figured it was just her father, or something like that. No threat, Jimmy quickly decided, and smiled at the man.
    "Speedway!" Rose smiled. "So good to see you. Speedway, this is- ah, I'm really sorry, I can't remember your name."
    "Jimmy." "This is Jimmy. Jimmy, meet Speedway. Ralph Speedway. He's a professor here at Gonzaga. Teaches mathematics. Speedway is world famous!"
    "Nice to meet you, Professor," said Jimmy. "Call me Speedway. Everyone calls me Speedway. Look at this, Helen. I've brought my new toy. It's called the Speedway Cube." Speedway removed a plastic transparent cube from his briefcase. The cube was about three inches on a side. "Here, I'll let Jimmy try it. The first problem is to take it apart." Speedway handed the cube to Jimmy.
    "I'm not real good at puzzles. Never have been," Jimmy said nervously. He held the cube nervously.     "Nonsense!" replied Speedway. "You just have to try it!" Speedway was an exuberant fellow, and Jimmy noticed that he had a strong British accent. Jimmy wondered if Speedway would ever go away! Jimmy wondered what it would be like to go for a long drive with Helen. Jimmy pulled at the puzzle, and the little plastic pieces fell away. Each piece was about a quarter-inch on a side. Some pieces had blocky shapes to them and some had curvy shapes.
    "Good," Speedway fairly shouted. "Now I'll go back to my table, and you can work on putting it back together!"
    Jimmy breathed a sigh of relief as Speedway ambled back to his table. Rose flashed him a knowing smile. "He's a character, isn't he? First time I met Speedway, I was sitting here eating some gumdrops. He was staring at my gumdrops so intently, I thought he was poor and hungry. So I offered him some. Well, he didn't just take one gumdrop. He took a whole handful! He always has all these little puzzles and things. Apparently he's famous throughout the world for his brilliant mathematical ideas."
    "Hmm," said Jimmy, sipping his cappachino. "Very interesting. Now, more about you. Do you live around here? Any brothers or sisters?"
    "I'm from Ohio," she answered. "Just moved here about-" Jimmy sputtered as a massive hand slapped him on the back.
    "How are you doing on that puzzle," Speedway asked in his twenty-decibel voice.
    "Fine, fine," stammered Jimmy. "Working on it."
    "Good, good," said Speedway. "Just checking up on you!" He smiled at Rose and moved on.
    "Gosh," said Jimmy. "He's just, just very enthusiastic.
    "Maybe you should solve his puzzle," Rose said.
    "I'm just not in the mood," said Jimmy, picking up the pieces of the puzzle. He carried the disassembled puzzle over to Speedway's table. "I just can't do it! It's too hard."
    "You're not trying, Jimmy. Now give it your best try," Speedway said firmly. Disheartened, Jimmy returned to Rose.
    "He won't let me give it back," Jimmy explained.
    "Tell you what," Rose suggested hopefully. "Why don't you try and solve it. We can talk while you solve it. And then, later, we can go for a walk in the park. Won't that be nice?"
    Jimmy nodded. "Okay, I'll try it. But just for you." He picked up a piece of the puzzle and fitted it with another. All the pieces snapped neatly together. But yet when he was done, he was left with not a cube, but a long, snake-like piece. Clearly this was not the solution. In the background, he could hear Rose saying something. He nodded, but all of his attention was now focussed on the puzzle. Jimmy disassembled the puzzle and tried again. Like this? Like that? Oh yes, now he was close. He could feel that he was close. This time, when he was finished, the object vaguely resembled a cube. But yet it had a large hole in the middle. Not right, definitely not right. He focussed on the cube and everything else faded away. He could see the pieces rotating and moving in his mind, snapping into place. He didn't even have to touch the cube now, he had memorized the pieces and could fit them together in his mind. How to form the center of the cube? Suddenly, with astonishing clarity, he saw it. Two of the smooth pieces would fit together, like the ying and yang of Chinese philosophy. He grinned broadly as he slowly put it together, knowing with certainty that his hunch was right. The last piece clicked into place. The cube seemed to glow in his hands. But yet, he knew that was just an illusion, it was nothing more than some pieces of plastic. He returned his focus to the world. What time was it? Glancing at his watch, he saw that it was eleven o'clock. That meant he had been working on the puzzle for- two hours. Was it possible? Where was Rose? He looked over and saw Speedway. He carried the puzzle triumphantly over to Speedway.
    "GREAT!" said Speedway. "Well done! Good work!"
    "Say, ah, have you seen Rose?" Jimmy asked. "You know, the girl I was sitting with."
    "Oh, Rose," Speedway replied. "She left about an hour ago."
    "Oh," said Jimmy. Come to think of it, he vaguely remembered her saying something about leaving. "Well, thank you very much, Speedway. Very interesting puzzle!" Speedway dipped his head in acknowledgement.
    Jimmy ordered a cafe latte and returned to his table. He sipped his cafe latte slowly.
    Alone, he mused to himself.
    So alone.