Baithouse Coffee Shop

5517 Seaview Avenue NW
October 13, 1996

I walk down steep steps to this diamond in the rough;
a room with a view of seagulls, sunsets, Shilshole Bay,
and a small town feeling like in The Shipping News¹.

A man interprets what a woman signs to the staff;
it's obvious from their responses
that they know each other.

This woman baked the biscotti and cookies for sale.
She licks her fingers as another man checking fishing nets
sits with an open bottle of beer.

Staff cook then eat what they want
as they look at the boats sailing to and from the Ballard Locks
possibly like their cousins in Nova Scotia
or their ancestors.

^{1 The Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx}