Coffee & Criminals

6. A Coffee-Related Mistake

The next day was one heck of a wild ride.

It began with me waking up, as usual. I took a shower while singing my heart out, as usual. I dressed for work and went downstairs for breakfast, as usual. While going down the stairs, I forgot to step on the last one and had a mini-heart attack as I almost fell on my butt, not that usual. And then I ate breakfast and walked into the Espresso House, ready for the day to end so I could go back home and watch television, as usual. It was at this point that things started to get unusual.

The very first thing I noticed was yet again, how empty the shop was. Would the aliens that abducted all our customers be oh so kind to return them? Or perhaps the zombies that ate our customers barf them back up and hire Dr. Henry Frankenstein to reassemble the parts so we could actually legitify ourselves as a functioning business- oh, I don't know. It was all very frustrating for me to see my parent's livelihood suffer like this.

The next thing I noticed was that the seat Ade usually sat in was emptier than my heart. Not that I have an empty heart. You know, veins...arteries- seriously, I have no idea what kind of point I'm trying to make here. I guess the author's just trying to get a bigger word count so she'll feel like she accomplished something today.

The third thing I noticed was that the licorice jar was now replaced with a larger one filled with different-colored Twizzlers and on the jar, in bright red letters, it read 'Candy French Fries.'

And the fourth (and final, I promise because I'm not usually so privy to notice things very much, except for today, where I'll list all the things I've noticed) thing I noticed was that the door that led to the basement and cellar was flung wide open. Why did I notice this, you ask? Well, usually, the basement door is shut and locked because both my mother and I have an irrational fear of monsters creeping out of the darkness. The door usually helped ease that fear since I doubt zombies knew how to pick locks. Unless the zombie, before it was turned to a zombie, had been a lock-picker during the course of its human life.

The Espresso House was empty. This, I knew for a fact. Dad had come down with the flu last night (it was just an excuse so he wouldn't have to come in today and face the consequence of having a third party ownership. Also, there was some major football game on tv today) and Mom had stayed to take care of him. We weren't supposed to be open today. Since business was never that good, a day off couldn't hurt. Also, my parents believed that if we were closed, then the Crowns would stay away.

But I couldn't help myself. I had to stop by. I needed to sit down and have a long, hard think about why we were failing as a business. There had to be a reason behind our lack of customers. It didn't make sense. In the heart of Brooklyn, with people left and right, we should've been up to our necks in customers. There was nothing physically wrong about the Espresso House. It was pretty enough to pass as one of the best coffee houses in the city. And yet...nothing. No one wanted to step foot inside this place. Was our coffee just really bad or something?

Since school was on break and Ade wanted to avoid me like the plague (after leaving ten messages, I'd think he'd have the decency to answer at least one of them) and the Espresso House was closed, I had nothing to do and no one to spend it with. Even Clancy was out hiking with her family and Samantha was still getting over her boyfriend.

When in doubt (or in this case, complete boredom) do homework. After eating my usual snack of ten thousand or so Twizzlers, I made myself a cup of coffee. I don't normally drink coffee, but I needed the kick this bleary morning. And also, I was trying to prove to myself that our coffee does not suck and everyone was just a butthole for not coming to this place more often. I sat down in one of the tables to do my work in silence. I could've done all of this back home but I liked coming to the Espresso House (unlike everyone else) and I liked the way the sunlight came in through the windows to throw pretty shapes onto the marble floor.