morning coffee

The faint air of autumn still lingered in the breeze that morning, drifting in through my open window.  The pale yellow of daylight in the city filled my room, waking me from my dream. Where am I?  My mind was still swimming in vague confusion from my sleep.  I dreamt of you, I think. I closed my eyes again, hoping for a brief recollection, but the sunlight had already fully woken me and the night before had been chased away.

I swung my legs begrudgingly onto the floor, that groaned under my weight in unison with my protesting joints. My left leg hadn’t been the same since my fall last summer. I rolled and stretched in the trouble places, crackling and releasing in the quiet.

Today was the same as any other Tuesday.  I languidly put on a pot of coffee, spilling grounds on the counter and leaving them. I placed an egg in a pot to boil and leaned against my kitchen counter. The leaves on the street below my window swirled and blew beneath the feet of the neighborhood kids on their way to school.  I always kept my windows open this time of year. The smell of coffee and autumn saturated my small apartment, and the shouts of childish laughter were vague echoes by the time they wafted up to me. I suppose I could have had children, if I had tried.  I never hated the idea, but - oh, coffee’s ready. I still made Peet’s coffee every day - you were right, after all this time, it was still the best.  They opened a few more in the city over the past few years, it was almost as prominent as Joe’s Coffee now.  But I still preferred to drink it in the quiet of my kitchen.

A splash of milk. The sound of the spoon sinking into the sugar tin. More laughter from the street. A shout. I sipped. The egg rattled against the pot in the now bubbling water. I should buy more eggs.

9:37. I closed my eyes in an attempt fill myself with Tuesday morning at 9:37 am. Where the coffee warmed my lips and the breath of early November caressed my bare shoulders and my mind chased the vague reminiscence of you like a breeze chases a lost balloon.