A Steaming Cup of Coffee

A Steaming Cup of Coffee

I watch them as they sit there slouched in a comfy sofa chair with a freshly printed copy of this week’s People magazine, taking tiny sips from their steaming ceramic cup. I can tell, by how they let each sip remain inside their mouth for several seconds before swallowing it, that they are enjoying the warmth it brings to their body. They are focused on the magazine as their eyes trace back and forth across the page, while reading about some of the recent news releases as well as the latest celebrity gossip. Once in a while they will come across something that perks their interest with a faint chuckle or the raise of an eyebrow. When they are finished reading the magazine, they reach down to pull a small laptop out of their bag. From then on, all that is heard is the “click clack” of the keyboard using their creative minds to write fresh stories or browse the web. It is still fairly quiet as one click of a button can be heard all the way across the room like the drop of a pin on a porcelain floor. On a rare occasion, they will look up in response to a distinct noise that catches their ear. They notice anything from a small white ceramic cup crashing to the floor in a million pieces to a rowdy wave of early risers who storm into the coffee shop, displaying what appears to be a severe caffeine withdrawal. These people are in their own little world at 7 o’clock on a Saturday morning, enjoying some time alone while waking up with a fresh brew of specialty coffee. Some of them appear to be regulars and make small talk with people around them, but many of them are quiet as a mouse, caught up in whatever it is that they are doing. I have to laugh at the occasional middle-aged man who stumbles in with wrinkly plaid pajamas and hair flying every which way as if he had just rolled out of bed seconds ago. It soon comes a time when they finish the last drip of coffee from their cup with a slurp, pull up their shirt sleeve to take a glance at their watch, and head out to embark on their journey of events.