Monday, May 21, 2007

minutia and madness

I never say a lot anywhere so I do a lot of listening and watching. We were sitting having coffee just like we always do. We catch each other up on what happened the days before and what is expected for the day.

I watched as he knocked over his cup. The cover stayed on as it hit the granite bench and started to roll. My thoughts ran through all that I would have done to save as much coffee as possible if I were in his position. He didn't do any of them.

As he tried to right the cup, he pushed it quicker to the edge, where it fell over. It hit the cobblestones without a bounce; the cover still on. He was still chasing after it with his clumsy hand.

"Don't squeeze it," was shouted inside my head right before he squeezed it and popped the cover off and the coffee gushed forth. I turned my head to hide my laughing but someone else just laughed out loud.

He was rather pissed at spilling his coffee, more so than the loss of a dollar sixty five.

"At least you didn't get any on," I said, and the guy who laughed said "Yeah, it could have been a lot worse."

"And you made his day," I said as I pointed to the guy who laughed.

He was still angry, as he tossed his empty cup into the flower bed behind him. He fished out later as we left.

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