every morning of every weekend he went out for coffee.

he woke up at 6 in the morning, long before anyone else in the house woke up. he thought he liked the peace and quiet of the house at that time. it was very quiet. but he didn't stay in the house long, just long enough to grab a piece of fruit, a banana or an apple, or sometimes a yogurt. then he went out to his car.

when it was winter he would go out to his car and brush off the snow and scrape the windows and start it up and go back in the house and wait for a few minutes before going back out. in the summer he would just in the car and leave.

he went to different coffee shops. in fact, he went to a different coffee shop every weekend. after a while he ran out of coffee shops and started going to little diners. but he wouldn't order sausages or eggs or anything to eat. just coffee.

he didn't know why he went to a different establishment every morning. one morning he decided that it was silly to be always going to a different place. there's a perfectly fine coffee shop not more then two blocks away, he thought. he had been there once, he couldn't remember for sure but he guessed it was on his very first outing. he seemed to remember that the coffee had tasted fine. not that he was a connoussier. he could tell the difference between the different coffee's, but he didn't much care for one over the other.

he decided to walk. he didn't usually walk, he usually drove. even to the coffee shops that were only a few blocks away. as he walked he noticed the wind that was blowing strong from the west that morning. he felt cold, and he didn't like the feeling. he cursed that he hadn't worn a better jacket and got frustrated with himself for being so cold. this just made his colder.

the sun wasn't up yet, and so he also felt afraid. he wasn't sure of what. the darkness was scaring him. there weren't any lights on in the houses that he passed, and that scared him too.

he wished he would have drove. he had a longing for his car stereo. he would always play music as he drove to the coffee shops. the same music, an old record of dylan's that he loved. he kept it in his car just for these type of mornings. he wanted to listen to dylan. he didn't like the silence.

when he finally got to the coffee shop he opened the door and walked in. at the counter was the girl who had served him the other time he had went there. she was an average looking girl, shortly cropped brown hair, a little button nose, maybe slightly overweight, and an earring pierced through her left nostril.

he went up to her and forced a smile. he asked for a medium of the dark roast. the girl asked him if he wanted it to stay. he always got it to stay.

this time he said no, i'll get it to go. she nodded and smiled and turned around to get the cup of coffee. he sighed. she brought him his coffee and he paid for it.

before he walked back home he went over to the bus stop bench that was across the street from the coffee shop. he glanced behind him to make sure that the girl from the coffee shop couldn't see him. she couldn't, her counter was obscured by the side of the building. still, he looked back a second time just to make sure. there was no one looking. he through the coffee into the garbage can by the bench and walked back to his car, where he got in and went looking for another coffee shop.
- posted by Sigurd1/04/2004 10:50:00 AM