hope you enjoy
everything in the coffee
we were immature
had nowhere to go in the city
we had nothing to do but drive around in cars
waiting on the night to end
driving around killing american hours
which was sometimes all there was to do
we went to a diner along mcknight road
in the northern suburbs
it was where everyone went
we drank coffee
and hoped that the high school girls
at the tables surrounding us were taking notice
notice of what?
we were immature and we knew it
we took it out on calvin
calvin liked his coffee more than anyone
he liked to sit in the diner drinking his coffee
looking at high school girls
the rest of us would put things in calvin’s coffee
when he left the table to take a piss
we would put salt in his coffee
pepper, ketchup, those little packets of jelly
whatever we could get our hands on
we mixed it up very well
then we waited on calvin to come back and take a sip
it was the same show every week
calvin would come back to the table
he’d take his coffee cup and take a good pull on it
his face would contort
he’d swirl the stuff around in his mouth
the coffee, the salt, pepper, ketchup, and jelly
then he would spit it back out and look
at the table of us in disgust
of course we’d laugh
it was funny to us because we had nothing else
calvin would curse and make a big deal
the girls at the tables around us would look and laugh too
because they had nothing else to amuse them
on a saturday night in america
the waitress would come over and give calvin
another cup of coffee
she would pray for us to leave a decent tip
she would pray for none of us to hit on her
she would pray that we left soon enough
good old calvin would guard his new cup of coffee with his
life
he’d sit there hunched over the drink
as if guarding a rare jewel
we’d laugh at this too
calvin would laugh because he knew he was putting
on a show for all of us
he was putting on the greatest show
one where he was the star
the night wasn’t so lonesome and drawn out
we had something to talk about and it sustained us
at least for a little while.
06.10.10/02.26.14
My first novel The Librarian is available for purchase HERE
A review of The Librarian is now in the March issue of Pittsburgh Magazine
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