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Soul Coffee Café
Week One - Monday - Open Up!

Week One - Monday - Open Up!

It was her first day of business, and Susannah had already made a mistake. She had set her operating hours to those she used in Swamptown.

She was yet to get a single customer.

Susannah stood behind the counter, surveying her new café. The walls were now a pale blue. The windows were open and had pastel blue curtains that were just transparent enough to look white when sunbeams passed through them.

Her new set of tables and chairs were a rich brown color. Susannah did not know what kind of wood they were made of. The legs were carved with pretty flowers. She had made no alterations to her placement dollies.

The sign hung outside was now a proud thing, an artful, mottled dark blue outline that bordered the same colored background as her walls. It proclaimed her name in plain white text. There was a mug in the same white off to the side. It was, she thought, very cute.

Overall, everything was perfect for her new big city life.

For the first few hours she ducked in and out of the kitchen to bake, placing the fresh goods in the display case, while minding her counter. Eventually, she stopped minding the counter in between waiting on the ovens, trusting the golden bell attached to the door to ring an alert.

Now, she slumped over her counter, baking done, with not a single soul in her café. Soul Coffee Café. More like Sole Coffee Café? She looked down at her lonely mug and shook her head.

The problem, she thought, was not just the hours.

Karulk had said it yesterday, if unknowingly. This lot, for whatever reason, was a revolving door. People did not know that she was here.

Susannah needed advertising.

In theory, it was a simple idea. Come up with a method to spread the word of her café. In practice, Susannah had no idea how to advertise. There was the radio, but she had no idea what the local channels were, and that sounded expensive. Flyers, but she had little eye for graphic design, and even less of an idea for how to get multiple copies.

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Susannah closed up shop, packing away the goodies. Early morning was approaching. She might as well get some sleep if she was to open before noon tomorrow and stay open. Her apartment was above her café. It was a decent living space. It would be better once she finished unpacking.

She flopped onto her bed, laying on the comforter. She chewed the inside of her cheek.

She stood up, went back downstairs, and threw a razzle pastry into one of her open flame ovens.

She had several types of ovens. She was very proud of them, in the same way men were proud of having big office desks at home, or children were for having a collection of one specific item. Susannah had a broken sea glass collection when she was younger.

She blinked. The pastry was burned to a crisp.

“I offer to you, Lady Kan, the essence of this razzle pastry, made by my labor. I ask for help marketing my café.”

Maybe Susannah would get a response, probably she would not, but at least she could say she tried. Lady Kan was the goddess of the economy, market shares, stocks, and real estate. Susannah had no idea who the god of marketing was, but economy and real estate would probably be able to help her situation. Maybe market shares could help too. Susannah wasn't totally clear on what those were, though.

(Somewhere, Lady Kan sneezed. It felt like a large group of people were reading her name, over and over, from a sacred text.

Elsewhere, a pharmaceutical company claimed they made a breakthrough on the common cold. This was complete bogus. Shares went up by two percent.)

Susannah went back upstairs and continued to think. She had no idea how to market in a big city, but that might be okay. She knew how to market in Swamptown. She got business even though she was an outsider. It couldn't be too terribly different. She had baked goods. Pastries, cookies, and tomorrow she was planning on making bread. She could take them to a library, or a park. She could set up a small stand in the below open market.

Susannah nodded to herself. Find out where the community gathered, hand some things out, give directions to where she worked, if possible get a business card between steps 2 and 3. Perfect. Amazing.

Now, who would know about community gatherings that would talk to her? Susannah sighed. Frolly and Karulk, the only two people she knew in Konox. Frolly was scary. Karulk was way too nice. Karulk probably was an active participant in community gatherings and local events.

Decision made, Susannah rolled over and went to sleep.