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    Lester Smith works days as a writer & technologist for Sebranek Inc., an educational publisher in Wisconsin. In his spare time, he designs games, writes poetry & fiction, codes Web stuff, publishes other writers via Popcorn Press, & dreams of being the first Android Poet Laureate of Mars.

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    Seeking the Sparrow at Starbucks

    By Lester | November 19, 2009

    sparrowA family member recently sent me a story by email, “The Sparrow at Starbucks,” or “The song that silenced the cappuccino machine.” It’s written so touchingly, so smoothly, that I began to suspect it is fiction, so I went looking for verification.

    Snopes.com doesn’t list it. TruthorFiction.com says it’s true, but for “proof” offers only the claim that it was published in a Christian magazine and mentions the author. Its links to both pieces of “evidence” are broken.

    Ostensibly, the tale took place at a Starbucks in Manhattan, at 51st Street and Broadway. However, there is no Starbucks at that location. Die-hard believers might argue, “Well maybe there once was,” so I’m asking if any of you ever saw a Starbucks at that location. (And I’m checking with Starbucks.)

    Here’s TruthorFiction’s version of the tale, if you’re interested.

    Photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/foxypar4/ / CC BY 2.0
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    Topics: Announcements | 4 Comments »

    4 Responses to “Seeking the Sparrow at Starbucks”

    1. Josh Says:
      November 23rd, 2010 at 10:34 am

      What’d you find out? I found the same broken links to the story and no mention of this on Mr. Thomas’s website…

    2. Lester Says:
      November 23rd, 2010 at 5:45 pm

      No news, Josh. But thanks for asking.

      For anyone else who might read this post, my problem isn’t with inspirational stories; it’s with the whole “What are the odds? It must have been the hand of God” morale. Obviously, in a work of fiction, the odds are 100 percent that things will happen as the author needs them to happen. A fact that suggests a very different moral. . . .

    3. Elena-Beth Kaye Says:
      December 5th, 2010 at 11:06 pm

      Why don’t you ask the author? All his contact info is on his website, which you can get to via this domain:

    4. Lester Says:
      December 6th, 2010 at 8:26 am

      Thanks for the comment, Elena-Beth, and for providing the author’s contact info. I’ll send him a note. But I’m still hoping for a third party’s verification or denial. Seriously, what are the chances that the author would say, “Yeah, I made it all up” or be able to add verification that he didn’t? A third-party yeah or nay is what’s needed.

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