Writing Journal Task: Character development

Writing journal task:  

The prompt/ theme given for this task: *spoiler - see end of post.

The Coffee Shop

Working in a coffee shop, you meet all sorts of people. Many just passing through, grabbing their fix to go, happy enough for a cursory greeting and the occasional friendly person dropping a coin or two in the tip jar. But the ones we like the most are the ones we see each day, the ones who stay, who have the same routine and we know their order before they say it. The team and I enjoy a bit of people watching while restocking the counters during a quiet moment. We feel we have a grasp on most of our regulars, from our knitting club who gather at one end, or those making use of the free wifi, clicking away on their laptops, to those who just need a breather and a dry place to escape the rain.

Then there is Harriet. She comes to our shop every Tuesday at 2pm. She comes alone, hers is a decaf Yorkshire tea and a bacon butty. She sets up her little cosy corner, book at the ready, grabs one of our blankets from the box and nestles in for the afternoon. She always gets a refill an hour in, and a sweet treat at 3.30. The books she reads look like well-loved, well-read, old dear copies from, I guess, a well-stocked selection back home. She doesn’t mind folding the corner of a page or using slips of scrap paper if she has forgotten a bookmark and she’s not squeamish about breaking the spine if the book grabs her enough to just bend it back in her deep delve into the world painted within. What she does with the rest of the week, we didn't know. It was clear that coming to our café, for a couple of hours, was a simple pleasure and we were happy to provide it.

We were shocked then, when clearing up her plate and mug, after another such visit, we found a business card by the table leg. We assumed it might have been an impromptu bookmark replacement. To my amazement, it had her picture on it, her name we knew was Harriet… but her occupation was not what we expected at all. This unassuming creature of routine was a mud bike stunt performer! A quick Google later and we discovered that she performed live stunt shows at festivals and can be seen in films, standing in as a stunt double! And yet, we know her as Harriet, the kind bookworm who likes the chunky red blanket and the squishy sofa in the corner. 

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*The prompt for this task: Write about a character who surprises you in some way