The Time Merchant Cafe - Still Open

Intriguing Short Stories

By: Ronald Mindzak

Narrated by: Virtual Voice

Length: 3 hrs and 49 mins

Publisher's summary

The proprietor of the Time Merchant Café, The Immortal Waiter, keeps a record of all his customer visits. Over thousands of years, he has accumulated hundreds of journals and tens of thousands of stories. Some stories date to the beginning of the written word. Before the Time Merchant Café, he was proprietor of various establishments. Some more reputable than others. The stories in this book will be taken from the journals of his current establishment, The Time Merchant Café.
The Waiter wants to share some of his stories with the world but doesn’t want to get noticed. He has decided to give his journals to a writer that he feels he can trust to tell his stories the way he would like them to be told. That writer is me, Ron Mindzak.
In its current form as an establishment serving coffee, The Time Merchant Café, it appears in the path of the chosen customer. The view the Immortal shows them is meant to change their lives. That change can save a doomed life or destroy a successful one. Once the selected patron leaves, the café disappears. The reason for any particular customer is decided by the Immortal Waiter. As the author reads some of the stories, while enjoying the remarkable coffee served there, he questions the Waiter’s motives.
The Waiter’s immortality is directly related to his customer’s visits. If their life is shortened by them viewing their future, his life is lengthened. If their life is saved from an early death, and live a long and happy one, his life is shortened. The number of years lost or saved are subtracted or added to the Waiter’s life. Since he is virtually immortal, it would seem that most patrons have been led to shorter lives, lengthening the Waiter’s. But the Waiter does enjoy the pleasures of living in a civilized world. In order to keep civilization safe, he must sacrifice some of his years in order to save those that can protect the fragility of civilization. He considers that he is saving civilization, on occasion, one person at a time.
As the author reads through the Waiter’s journals, he finds that there are a good many people that the Waiter has saved, or lead to an early death, for reasons that have nothing to do with saving civilization. Those patrons are invited for reasons that the author questions as the Waiter seems to a sliding moral line. A moral compass that points in a direction that eludes the author, but the Waiter seems to consider appropriate for each patron.
The reason for his establishments, and his existence is a mystery, even to the Waiter. Since he continues to operate it as he sees fit, he assumes he is running it the way it was intended. This is the start of many philosophical discussions between the author and the Waiter. The author argues does the Waiter have the right to lead people to their death. The Waiter replies that since he still exists and brings his café into existence to whomever he wants, his decisions are correct and in line with the purpose of his existence.
This book contains my first fictional meeting with the Immortal Waiter and my reaction to meeting this man, this immortal man. Our interaction will prove to be interesting reading, as are the other stories in this book. Enjoy the tales from the Journals of the Time Merchant Café and get to know the proprietor of the Time Merchant Café.