"Let's talk keyboards," she said.
I looked up at her, confused. "That's a different opening."
She shrugged. "I like to keep you guessing." She folded her arms across her chest and then leaned on her elbows over the table. "You write, and you use computers. I'm willing to bet," she leaned in closer, her voice dropping to a conspiratorial whisper, "That a keyboard is more than just a keyboard to you."
"I do appreciate a good set of keys, it's true." I sighed, leaning back in my chair, tearing my eyes away from the screen. Nothing was coming out well, anyway. The words were jammed up somewhere, and all I was able to force out was repeated nonsense. The gods were not smiling upon my hand.
"What's your fave?"
"My fave?" I stretched my back, looking up at the ceiling. "An IBM Seletric. Fastest thing I ever wrote on. I could fly across that thing. Too bad it weighed a ton."
She shook her head. "Nuh-huh. I need a computer keyboard. What's your favorite computer keyboard."
I took a sip from my coffee and winced. It had gone cold, and I hadn't even made it down to half a cup. "The Pismo. Best computer keyboard I've ever written on."
She frowned, looking puzzled. "What's a Pismo?"
"Apple laptop. G3 PowerBook, circa 1999."
She sighed, lowering her forehead to the table. "I need a keyboard for my computer. I spilled soda on mine last night. I tried cleaning it up, but now the 'e' and the 's' don't work." She looked up at me through her hair. "I've got a twelve page paper due, and I can't type a single 'e' or 's'."
"Sounds bad." I looked back at my screen, at the flashing line sitting where I'd left it, waiting for me to try again.
"It is bad." She sat up, looked around the coffee shop. "I figure if I''m going to replace it, I should get something decent." She looked over at me. "What would you recommend?"
"You've got a Mac? Or a PC?"
"Mac."
I nodded. "There's a keyboard that emulates an Apple keyboard from the 90s that a lot of people feel was the best keyboard ever made. It's supposed to be really good."
"You use it?"
I shook my head. "I use these newer Apple aluminum keyboards. I've got this wireless one for the iPad, and I've got a larger USB one for the computer at home."
She looked across the table at the keyboard sitting in front of the propped up iPad. "I dunno," she said, "I wasn't too happy with my old keyboard."
I nodded. "I know. I used to not really like the older ones, either. I was saving up for that best ever keyboard when I got this wireless one with my new Mac."
"You like it?"
I smiled. "I like it."
"Can I try it?" She reached across the table and picked up the keyboard. She set it down in front of herself. She closed her eyes, placing her fingers on the keys along the home row. "It feels nice," she murmured. She started typing, her fingers pressing the keys quickly, her eyes closed. I looked over at the screen and watched as a scene started blossoming, as she started laying out better prose off the cuff then I'd been able to put down all afternoon.
"Yeah," I frowned, "It's great." I reached across the table and took the keyboard back. "I've got to get back to work."
She rose from her chair. "You think I can get one of those at the bookstore?"
"I'm sure," I nodded, looking fixedly at the screen.
"Hey, thanks!" she grinned, and bounced away, back to her table.
I sat there for a long moment, reading and rereading the prose she'd left laying carelessly on my screen. I sighed, and then held down the delete key until I was back to where I'd been before, saying nothing in a long circular motion.
