The person at the next table

A famous name can make a reader think they already know the story. In the opening of Bit Parts, Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and the Big Bopper are waiting in an airport canteen. The reader may recognise the significance of the night. Caitlin, the waitress serving them, is thinking about the work in front of her.

Wilton Morley builds ‘The Airport Waitress’ around that difference. This is a fictional encounter, seen through someone whose concerns are immediate and personal: the freezing weather, the late hour, the customers who still need coffee and the life waiting beyond her shift.

History from the working side of the counter

The musicians become men sharing a booth, ordering food and making conversation. The small exchanges change the reader’s distance from them. A burger, a tired face or a request to wrap up a meal can carry a different weight when the reader knows more about what lies ahead than the person witnessing it.

Caitlin also has a world of her own. Her relationship, her preferences and her expectations belong to her, independently of the famous visitors. Giving her that space is what makes the opening more than a scene built around recognisable names. For these pages, her attention decides what matters.

A collection for the curious observer

The title Bit Parts makes an appealing promise: people who might occupy a few lines in someone else’s account can become the centre of a story. The collection contains forty short stories, offering many opportunities to enter a scene from an unexpected angle.

This is a good place to begin if you enjoy watching a room, wondering about the couple at the next table or imagining what an encounter looks like to the person serving the drinks. Short fiction gives those questions enough space to become another life, while keeping the pleasure of a complete reading experience close at hand.

Read the opening below and meet Caitlin on her shift. The rest of Bit Parts is waiting just beyond the counter.