Lawrence Block’s “Autumn at the Automat” opens with a woman sitting in the cafeteria and observing people. From the beginning we know that this woman is not exactly alone. She is being haunted. This haunting isn’t from some ghoul or ghost but it is her memories. She hears Alfred talking to her and guiding her but she doesn’t seem to mind it. It is even said that she welcomes his ghost, this can be shown in the line “As she alternately hoped and feared, it didn’t all stop with the end of life. Suppose that fine mind, that keen intelligence, that wry humor, suppose it had survived on some plane of existence even when all the rest of him had gone into the ground.” During the story we see Alfred guiding her multiple times. We see that he taught her how to enjoy black coffee, look in the corner of her eyes, and basically how survive.
We don’t know too much about Alfred but we do know this: He was German, most likely older than the narrator, liked his coffee black but still liked sweets, and probably was a really good conman. While he is never physically in the story we know that he has had a huge impact on the narrator even in death.
I found it interesting that there is never any clarity on who exactly Alfred was or why he is no longer with the main character. Would making him a clearer character change the story too much?