Nina's Cafe

I was running a coffee shop which had been a dream of mine for ten years, which all my students knew over the years that I had this dream. So I took the bus from here downtown and then we had to transfer the bus up here. So I taught them how to take the bus and transfer buses. We came in here, we sat down, we had a little bit of a poetry reading and here. And then I bought them hot chocolate and treats and we talked about the space and I said, I thought the space was too large. I had been looking at a smaller space down the street and it wasn't going that well. With the fire department there was some sort of fire situation and so I couldn't have that space. And so I asked, do you think that I can do this space and have this big of a coffee shop? And one of my students got up, he stood up and he said, Miller's class comes into our room and it makes it 60 kids instead of 30 kids? And I said yes. And he said, remember what you said, that you love building community. And he said, you'll be able to build community here and fill this place. A sixth grader. Sixth grader. Wisdom. So with his endorsement, I signed on the doc You signed the leaves. I did. I did. We're sitting on infamous steps because what happened here? Back when I was teaching, I would come in here at five in the morning to open. And I always was worried that I was going to be greeted by someone and possibly a ghost because I had heard that there were ghosts in the building. And you believed that? I did. And I still believe it because there are quirky things that happen, especially when we open in the morning. Yeah. That we know that ghosts have been here overnight. But this particular day, I opened up the door and we always light this staircase at night. We keep that door open so this is lit. And I walk in and this woman is descending the stairs in a white robe. And she looks at me and she said, June, time to get coffee. And at first I was taken aback thinking it really was a ghost, but it wasn't. It was a real woman, a live h In a robe. And what had happened is she lived in the apartments down the street. My bakery delivery man came and he did not speak English and she was outside in the cold looking for a newspaper in her robe and slippers. And so what he did is he locked her in here and he said someone will be here soon because he didn't say that to her. I mean he just ass And he didn't know what else to do. And so he locked her in here so she was safe from the cold. And she was looking for me so she was upstairs wondering where I was in the dry storage. And so when I came in she heard me and she started coming down the stairs. And you thought she was a ghost. And so we had coffee together. The ghost and I. But not really a ghost. June, time for coffee. Time for you to get dressed, lady. Time for you to get dressed.