Coffee usually comes in one, sometimes in two but hardly in big numbers, or so this coffee day seemed to prove.
Coffee is an excuse to sit in a public place in the comfort of human embrace without having to talk or share your sorrows yet still getting a random helping of life’s funniest moments.
When it comes in twos, for example, coffee plays mediator between a couple. Sipping on a coffee acts as a “pause , having the same effect as going to the toilet during a fight or even as a “buy me time token gesture without causing offence when asked a big embarrassing question like, “Will you marry me? or “Do you really think Mohamed is right to say I have a big bum?
Or my favorite coffee use, the coffee companion on a cold rainy day or more so on a hot stuffy day feels just like a big bear hug.
I finished the bear hug thought as I looked at my mug and over at the old man sipping away at the far corner of the room, he still looked like he needed a big bear hug despite his coffee.
“Sally I am leaving in two days. Yes I know we haven t been talking for a long time, but I really think you should give this a chance. Will you marry me?
And before you know it, the coffee mug was in her hand, sipping as if she hadn t heard a word, then looking up.
“Selim, she said, “Are you … How … Why do you think this might work when it hasn t for years, and why do you come to me two days before you leave to propose again?
Smiling with teary eyes, she looked at him in silence.
“If you say yes, I will stay, he announced holding her hand.
“But you always wanted to go to Switzerland and I know what this job means to you.
“And you know you mean more to me.
Looking at him with distrusting eyes, she moved closer and said, “Khalas, then stay.
Another couple walked in and sat down in silence before ordering French coffee.
They took out two books as they sat down for what seemed like a lifetime of reading, communicating at intervals through coffee.
Dana would look up occasionally, shake the pot of coffee, pour Khaled a cup and place it in front of him. An exchange of smiles would follow and then it was back to coffee silence.
A loud screech of the chair disturbed the silence.
“I don’t trust you, I don’t. If I stay I will come and meet your dad and you will have a ring on your finger,
Looking around and noticing people were watching, she whispered, “Ok.
“La’ that is not good enough for me, we will have to “nekteb kitab and I won’t settle.
“But that is in two weeks, and we won’t be able to get married before a year.
He stared at her, and after a long pause, said: “You know what, you don’t love me, and I m leaving.
“So why propose when you were planning on leaving?
A group of four girls laughing and talking loudly in excitement attracted my attention.
“And years later his friend sent us promotional material of a restaurant and what do you know we were there in the background. It was the first time we met and we weren t even dating then, Rasha said with a smile.
“Wow, that is what I call destiny and what about you Maha how did you meet your husband?
Laughing, Maha confessed: “We met on the internet, saw each other in Paris for the first time, and now the two kids that look like him constantly remind me of the horrible orange shirt he was wearing in our first picture together.
Two women sat close to the window chitchatting, with no facial muscles moving, just like elderly women seem to.
Heba pointed to the street and said, “Look how dirty the streets look.
“Shofti what my son did yesterday? Moushira interrupted and went on to answer.
“You know he works for a big businessman that has given him a lot of power. Apparently it got to his head and after feeling he mistreated the coffee boy at the office, he decided to do the craziest thing.
Surprised Moushira asked her friend, “Kheir?
“He went to the busiest street in Alexandria and swept all night with those men you see in orange, just to get a reality check, you know it’s in our religion.
Filled with my dose of coffee talk for the day, I decided to get back to my life’s troubles so I ordered my last coffee and asked for the bill.
