(1998)
Coffee,
have I ever told you just how much
I love you? I may have murmured in the
heat of the moment how
grateful I was that you alone were there for me, but I've never specifically set time aside for
just the two of us, just to let you know just how
special you are.
Coffee, you
excite me. When I'm at my lowest, the
thought of holding a
steaming cup of you is the only thing keeping me from falling
asleep standing up. Even when I can't stand the burned, stale
mess the
Sugar Shack makes of you, just sitting in there, your
aroma wafts over the
counter, putting a
spring in my step and some small
measure of alertness in my
apathetic gaze. The
smell of coffee and
donuts sticks in the seams of my
hooded sweatshirt, reminding me even now of your everlasting
presence.
When I finally find a half-
decent mug of you in my hands, you
wash everything
bad out of my mind. The world is
wonderful for a few minutes. There's only
you and me. I take that first
sip, scalding my
tongue, suddenly remembering I don't even LIKE coffee, but just as quickly I
forget again as warmth and
caffeine and that
sweet sugar rush spreads all the way to my
fingertips. Ah, sweet coffee-induced
bliss. There's nothing like that
injection of
pure caffeine and
sugar,
nothing in all the world. It's the best
legal high there is.
And in the hottest days of
summer, you're there again -
confections of crushed
ice and
cream and sugar
syrup and flavoring and that small but utterly
crucial shot of very
strong coffee
dance in my dreams. On those
rare but lovely occasions I actually find one in front of me, that
decadent,
sticky coolness coats my
throat, refreshing as
nothing else in the
world could ever be.
Ah, coffee, you
miraculous beverage, existing only as the least-
diluted carrier form of caffeine known to man. I am forever indebted to the sheer
nervous energy you've brought to my
life, to the masses of
calories I've burned just from my hands
twitching. You
brighten my days, lengthen my nights, and make my life just that much more energetic. I love you.