Wha'chya doin?

J-- was sitting at the table by the window enjoying his cup of Organic Manitoba tea, the infuser sitting by his right hand, still half full of the amber fluid. He glanced up as the door opened and The Rev strolled in. He smiled and nodded in greeting.

"Hey stranger," J-- said standing and offering his hand, "long time no see ..."

The two shook hands as The Rev laughed and began to remove his coat.

"Yeah," said The Rev hanging his coat alongside J--'s on one of the bar chairs by the front window, "It hasn't been THAT long ..."

"Got a day off?" asked J-- as he sat down at the table and folded up the newspaper.

"Yeah," said The Rev as he turned towards the counter, "something like that ..."

Returning a moment later with a large cup of Chipperfield's house blend in his hand he pulled out a chair and sat across the small table from J--.

"So, what does 'something like that' mean?" asked J--.

"Oh, I'm trying to stay up here one day a week to get paper work done," said The Rev, "so I'm not being disturbed."

J-- started laughing, "yeah like that isn't a complete recipe for disaster ..."

"Exactly," said The Rev, picking up his coffee and taking a sip, "my cell and my home phone has been ringing and I am getting a tonne of emails in my work AND personal server. I'm getting less work done than if I was in the office right now ..."

"Good time for a break," said J-- lifting the mug of tea in salute.

"Exactly," said The Rev, "when the going gets rough the best place to go is for coffee with an old friend."

"Hey," said J--, his smile morphing into a frown, "careful with that 'old friend' business," he glanced around the shoppe, "folks might get the wrong impression ..."

"You got a birthday coming up don't you?" asked The Rev.

"Yup," nodded J-- in agreement, "another week and I turn the big 7-5!!"

"Congratulations," said The Rev smiling, "you don't look a day over 74!!"

"Thanks," snickered J--.

The two men were laughing as Ross wandered up to the table, "Mind if I sit down?" he asked.

"No," said J--, "it's your store. You can sit anywhere you want."

"Well, almost anywhere," said The Rev.

"Yeah," agreed Ross sitting down at the table. He leaned back in the chair and turned to J--, "so, did he tell you about our awesome showing at the Trivia Night this weekend?"

"Come in last again?" asked J-- with a wink.

"Not this year," said Ross smugly. As he spoke The Rev reached into his black nylon briefcase and pulled out a small trophy.

"Check it out," said The Rev setting the trophy on the table in front of J--.

"Consolation prize?" asked J--.

"Nope," said Ross proudly, "FIRST PRIZE ALL THE WAY !!"

"Really?" said J-- as he picked the Trophy up and read the gold coloured plaque on the base, "That's great."

"Yup," said Ross, "the Chipperdoodles came in first."

"Impressive showing after last year," said J--, "that last place finish was hard to take for all of you ..."

The Rev and Ross both laughed and nodded in agreement.

"Yeah, but winning the trophy this year is sweet revenge," observed The Rev.

"So where are you gonna display this beauty?" asked J-- holding the trophy up in his hand.

"Up on the mantel," said Ross seriously, his hand motioning to the ledge above J--'s head.

"Along with full page ads in the Trib announcing our win," said The Rev with a smile.

"Talk about your sore winner," laughed J--.

"So a spinning, lighted display for the trophy would be a little too much?" said Ross looking confused.

The Rev and J-- looked at each other across the table and began to laugh, neither committing to an answer ...

(Just for interest's sake ... The REAL Chipperdoodles team won the recent Kinettes/Kinsmen Trivia night and DO have a lovely trophy that will soon be lurking around the REAL Chipperfield's somewhere - rest assured we've talked Ross out of the illuminated rotating display case play Queen's song "We ARE the Champions!"!! and the Chipperdoodles team was responsible for creating the trivia questions for the Basswood Hall Trivia night last week too ... thanks to the combined wisdom of the real-life Jaydee, Bonnie, Ross and The Rev!! We're just sorry that Jaydee wasn't part of the K/K Trivia night ... Maybe NEXT year !! But for now - she can share in our victory nonetheless !!!)