FFF04
DINER RECEIPT
RECEIPT NUMBER: FFF04
RECEIPT DATE: 12 13 1988
MANAGER TITLE: BALTIMORE
RECEIPT NOTES:
It seems the neons must be turned off for now. I knew it couldn’t last forever. I didn’t need it to—I just needed a few seconds to breathe, to get ahead of Fate. And I think I’ve done just that. Thank you, mon amour, for ensuring the Cafe’s physical location lay within a piece of your domain. And thank you, my most trusted associate and Eight, for sticking with me these past few days while I brewed a fresh pot for the coming Cold. There were a few more things I’d hoped to accomplish while the neons were on, but I suppose the Zulus wait for no one, do they?
Mon amour, she’s meeting with Shaka as I write this. Hopefully, it’s going well. I can’t imagine he’s still playing at that ridiculous “coffee cult” ploy. He knows, just as I do, what the Cafe and Diner was—and what it will be again. No, there must be something else of interest here. To Shaka, Alfa, the Secret—or maybe all three. Hopefully not all three. But whatever it is, I’ll catch up on the sordid details later. For now, we need to focus on the real priority: ensuring that Fate gets served a piping hot cup of the Cafe’s finest.
In the… what was it? Seventy-two hours? In the time I spent outside the view and grasp of Fate, I came to a conclusion. A realization, really. I figured out that the only way to stop him is to stop myself—to stop the Cafe and Diner. If Eight is to remain the Eight, what purpose does the Cafe and Diner serve? I started this venture out of nostalgia, perhaps, but I see now that things must be different this time around.
Obviously, throwing away all these months of work isn’t ideal. But isn’t that what a “Year Zero” is for? To test, to experiment, to fail without worrying about sunk costs? To be clear, I’m not shutting down the Cafe and Diner. How could I? It hasn’t even opened yet! But I’m beginning to think that letting que será, será, might be the only way to stop Fate.
After all, I’m not the only one who wants to see the Cafe and Diner open—and that may be reason enough to ensure that it doesn’t.