What's a Five-letter Word that Starts with Q?

Last night was a triumph of seven-letter words: Our first Scrabble Tournament at the cafe. I have been talking about this event for months, and it finally happened. In cafe tradition, it was full of energy and life--the kind of spirit I like to think our cafe brings out in people. We gathered at 6:30 pm, some familiar faces like the two Joes O'Rourke and Obeng; Bill Hewitt, cousin Steve and a bunch of others who read the story by Mackenzie Issler in the Recorder.

We had four tables blazing with words, and we were awarding a prize to the person with the highest single game point score. First, Charlie impressed us with a 209, then Sarah, a UMass student and cafe newcomer, popped up at 225. As more games were played, the scores got higher, we finally ended up crowning our night's winner Bela Breslau who topped out at 226 when we added the points from the other players she got from going out first.

"Are you going to be doing this every week?" asked Tony, a self-described old fashioned guy with no email. I replied that I'd like to make it special, so we'll keep it bi-monthly.

After the players all left, Bill, Joe and I walked over to Sienna, the fine restaurant across the street, where Cindy had met some musician friends. We sat at the bar and drank some dark liquids, and the owner Carl comped us as we talked about the bright future for our little towne in the years ahead. "It's great to have a night out right here in South Deerfield," said Joe. Amen!