The Java Bean Cafe
by Jeff Siamon

Brandon Kuchar (Kooch) left grade 12 without taking his final exams. He went to New York, formed a band and had a single and an album hit that reached the top forty. But like many one-hit wonders, he hasn’t had much success since. It didn’t help that he got into drugs, got busted and went through a few iterations of bands. But he’s clean now. Has been for years.
xxxIt’s nearly Christmas. He’s come back to his home town in Ontario with his current, much younger girl friend, Dakota. She was a runner up on a TV talent contest. His dad has recently died, and he’s home to settle his estate. He needs the money so he and Dakota can go to New York to record another album.
xxxBut things don’t go according to plan. His dad’s estate amounts to debts, not assets. And then there’s Irene (Reenie), his high school sweetheart. She’s the reason he hasn’t been back home since he left thirteen years ago. He got her pregnant and succumbed to pressure from Irene’s mom, Lisa, to have nothing more to do with Irene or the baby. To complicated matters, Lisa had been having an affair with Brandon’s father that had ended badly.
xxxWhile Brandon has been feeling guilty ever since he left, Irene suffered more than guilt. After he left her, after having a miscarriage, she could never get her life back on track. With her second husband convicted of insider trading and now in jail, she’s also back home, totally broke. She has an unrealistic plan to go to Hawaii after New Years. But Kevin, an old high school friend and now a pharmacist, wants her to stay.
xxxUnderpinning the drama is Lexie’s story. She arrives on the bus from Alberta to meet her boyfriend coming from Montreal. But bus after bus, he doesn’t show. Both Irene and Lisa take an interest in the girl who is still in her teens. Especially when Irene learns that Lexie is pregnant. In the end, Brandon, Irene and Lisa all have to deal with the consequences of what happened when Irene got pregnant.