‘Money Walks’: $11.39 for a very important cup of coffee, Part 3
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‘Money Walks,’ a serial novel by 16 Los Angeles writers who will be appearing at this year’s Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, appears in new installments Mondays through Saturdays until April 24. Today’s chapter-- our third -- is written by Diana Wagman; it introduces us to the people that the reverend calls upon when all the money starts to go missing. They’re bickering.
Rudy’s girlfriend, Angie, was sitting with her long legs up on the dining room table, skirt around her waist, portable fan whirring. She was reading John Fante’s ‘Ask the Dust’ aloud.
When Rudy told her to shut up, she quoted Arturo Bandini: ‘When I say Greaser to you, it is not my heart that speaks.’
‘It’s the priest, for chrissakes,’ he whispered, gesturing at the phone.
Angie works as a barrista, and she’s the one who says casually, ‘People have money. Maybe not a lot. But people always have $11.39 for a very important cup of coffee.’ But do they? They’re having a hard time finding any cold hard cash.
Read the story from the beginning: Chapter 1 by Mary McNamara and Chapter 2 by Seth Greenland.
-- Carolyn Kellogg
