Usual Table

Two roosters at a round white marble table in an old Penang coffee shop: a large Buff Cochin with fluffy golden-buff plumage in an ivory linen jacket, and a small Black Rosecomb bantam with glossy black plumage, a white earlobe and a red comb in an indigo batik shirt with large pale leaf motifs, each perched on a bentwood chair with wing feathers resting on the table beside two glass cups of milky coffee and a plate of toast, ceiling fans overhead and green shutters open onto a street of old shophouses

Kopi for Two

They have kept this table on Sunday mornings for thirty years. The small one orders for both; the large one says 'Too sweet,' as he does every week, and finishes the glass.

2 August 2026