I’ve taken to writing a North Dakota-y ghost story for the past couple of Halloweens – here’s one of them – and in the spirit (wooooooooo) of keeping that going, here’s another. I hope you enjoy it; Happy Halloween!

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Coffee

by Amanda Kosior

With the dinner rush over, Dale Fode set his apron next to the cooktop, peeked around the corner to make sure the ghost was still there, and turned to his wife.

“Okay, I’m gonna tell him,” he said.

Erin Fode, never one for big emotions, sighed.

Dale walked out into the dining room of Lyndalou’s, the café his family had owned since – well, since the town’d become a town, really.  Jon’s grandfather had tried his hand at farming just long enough to realize that cooking, and the farmer’s daughter, Lyndalou, were more his style.  Lyndalou’s was open for breakfast and dinner six days a week, closed Mondays, and was known for its tips and toast, hashbrowns, and weekly pie specials.  Oh, and coffee, of course.

The man formerly known as Orland Fode was sitting in his formerly favorite spot at the six-seater round table affectionately known as the “Koffee Korner” due to its position next to the coffee pot and the fact that the closest seat to said pot was generationally occupied by the senior, junior, or third Karl Rybaski.  Outside of Orland, the table was empty while the old boys went home to enjoy the North Dakota sunshine from the comfort of their sofas.

“Dad,” Dale said, putting his hand through the specter’s shoulder and onto the back of the metal and vinyl chair.  Orland didn’t look up from the transparent playing cards he was shuffling; cards being the mainstay activity of the Koffee Korner.

“If you have time to lean, you have time to clean,” Orland said.  “And I saw that a couple of ketchup bottles need to be filled.”

“Dad,” Dale said.  “I’m raising the price of coffee to two dollars.”

Orland stopped shuffling.  From the kitchen, Erin sighed again.

“Like heck you are,” Orland said, looking up at his son.  “Coffee is fifty cents.  It’s always been fifty cents, and it’ll always be fifty cents.”  Orland gestured to the menu board over the counter, where “Coffee $0.50” had been written so many times that even though the chalk had long ago flaked off, the words remained.

“It hasn’t always been fifty cents,” Dale said.  “You raised it, and now I’m gonna raise it.  I’m losing money on every cup.”

“It’s a loss-leader,” Orland said.  “You need it to bring in the diners.”

“Today Karl shared an egg salad sandwich with Bill and they each drank a full pot of coffee,” Dale said.  “And they sat there for six hours while the Martinsons had to wait for a spot.”

“Coffee is fifty cents,” Orland said, slapping what would have been his hand down on the table.  “Fifty cents.”  He pointed a foggy finger at Dale.  “If you raise it one penny, I’m gonna haunt ya.”

“You’re not going to haunt me,” Dale said.

“I am, I’m gonna haunt ya.”

Dale sniffed – the same sniff his father used to give his mother when she’d tell him what to do – and turned towards the counter.  Using the side of his fist, he wiped off what remained of the price of coffee and, with the chalk, wrote, “Coffee: $2.00.”

“Yep, I’m gonna haunt ya,” Orland said, and disappeared.

For the next two days, Orland haunted Lyndalou’s.  He ran the shake machine without anything in it.  He poured the table syrup back into the big jug.  He turned the oven up fifteen degrees and the toaster down one click.  He rattled the windows and creaked the doors, and made the toilet flush unexpectedly while Jean Martinson was on it.

Dale tried reasoning with his father.

“C’mon, Dad,” he said to the ceiling when the lights flickered.

The Koffee Korner also attempted to lend a hand.

“Heck now, Orl,” Karl the Third said to Orland’s empty chair after their pile of cards reshuffled themselves.  “It’s just coffee.  Even though,” he looked at Dale, who was delivering a Denver omelet with three forks, “I am on Social Security.”

From somewhere in the air, Orland’s voice said, “Coffee is fifty cents…and Karl, you weren’t hurtin’ for money when you bought that new boat last month.”

Then the ketchup bottle on the table tipped over.

On the third day, Erin baked pumpkin pie.  The whipped cream, which was normally kept in the walk-in cooler, was nowhere to be found.  Erin searched high and low, finally giving up and running over to the store to grab a replacement.  When she returned, the lost whipped cream was sitting on the counter.

“Woooooo,” Orland’s voice said spookily.

“Well,” Erin said.

She went out to the dining room, leaned over to the menu board, and under her husband’s handwriting of “Coffee: $2.00,” added,

“With purchase of food: $0.50.”

Dale, who had been wiping tables, sniffed.

For the first time in three days, Orland reappeared in his seat at the Koffee Korner.  He pulled his own card pack out of his pocket and shuffled while Bill dealt the cards to the living.  Karl poured coffee all around – to the Koffee Korner, and to the ladies sitting at the two-top.

“You done haunting?” Dale asked, later, as he delivered two sandwiches, one tips and toast, one piece of pie, and a side of hashbrowns to the table.

“You done raising the price of coffee?”  Orland asked, without looking up.

“For now,” Dale said.

“For now,” Orland repeated, shuffling his cards once more. 

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The photo above was generated by AI, so if I ever try and get on a high horse about AI, remind me of this.

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This week on North Dakota Today we talked about Jonathan Haux, my Nice Person of the Week, as well as a Rosary Garden in Williston. Check it out. (Valley News Live)

Grand Forks’ Tanner Lund is warming up for the World Series. (Fargo Forum)

As Recovery Reinvented in its current form is coming to an end, I want to congratulate my friend, Jon (the Executive Director) on reducing addition stigma and sharing recovery stories across the state. (North Dakota Monitor)

Kenmare’s Bryan Quigley and his brother, Del, are fixing up memorial parks. (Minot Daily News)

NDSU students are ready to help you get your snow blower ready for winter. (Fargo Forum)

Looking to help out in the next couple of weeks?  Try Youthworks or Northlands Rescue Mission! (Fargo Forum) (Facebook)

Daycare kids in Fargo celebrated an early Halloween with the Good Samaritan Society. (Fargo Forum) (Found via OOPS! Only Good News!)

Fargo’s high school students are invited to meet with city leaders to help make Fargo a great place to live. (KVRR) (Found via OOPS! Only Good News!)

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