Artistic Differences

Then there was Near. Although his name was unknown to Mello, the eccentricity of his character was far too familiar. He fit neither within the contemplative group of people who sat with absent anticipation of the drink they had not yet chosen, nor within the hasty group who considered the moments before they received their morning coffee to be a separate eternity. For five days now, Mello had watched the pale, short unnamed figure enter the shop and weave his way through the line of customers without so much as brushing shoulders. He then would seat himself at a small circular table in the corner of the shop without ever ordering a drink.