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A beautiful story about ‘queer instinct’ and how queer memory shifts and changes as it needs to. A shy and tentative bookworm is working in a coffee shop but is desperate to get back to their Truman Capote novel whenever they can. There is a desire to have been called Bulldog at school just like Capote was. There is the joy from wearing an ex-boyfriend’s bomber jacket. The wish to be strong like the delivery driver they mirror. The coffee shop manager and the customers are all woven into the story as the morning rush begins but then a crowd of office workers arrive and there is something familiar about one of them called Elle and the connection between barista and customer unravels.

Reader: Ell Potter is an actor, writer and award-winning narrator. Ell's most recent work has been The Last Show Before We Die at this year's Edinburgh Festival.

Writer: K Patrick's poetry has appeared in PoetryReview, Granta and Five Dials, and was shortlisted for The White Review Poet’s Prize in 2021, the same year that K was shortlisted for The White Review’s Short Story Prize. In 2020 they were runner-up in the Ivan JuritzPrize and the Laura Kinsella Fellowship.
Their debut novel, Mrs S was selected as an Observer Best Debut of the Year, and K was named a Granta Best of Young British Novelists for 2023. Their debut poetry collection, Three Births, will be published by Granta Poetry in 2024, and they live in Scotland.

Producer: Tracey Neale