Therese awoke early on Saturday. She was not sure if she awoke early because she was excited to go to work, or because she had drunk coffee for the first time before, but she awoke early and her eyes flipped open just as her dreams ended. Therese looked around her room. The sun had not risen, but her nightlight and digital clock illuminated the room. She climbed out of bed and stretched. She adjusted the little bunny figurines on her dresser, noticing that the vibrations of her opening and closing her dresser offset one.
Therese dressed herself in some old clothes and a jacket to start gardening early. Her parents were asleep, so she tried to walk carefully and softly through the house, but her heart pounded to her feet as she was filled with excitement. The rabbits were in their holes resting but awoke with surprise at her early arrival and ran up to meet her to say good morning, always grateful to see her and mindful of their manners. Therese liked working the garden as it helped her focus, and she liked helping people, or in this case helping rabbits. Therese often dreamed of a world with talking rabbits just like on Space-Girl Michelle, and wished these rabbits could talk.
“Good morning, friends.” said Therese as she greeted the rabbits as she always had as long as she could remember. The rabbits wiggled their whiskers as a good morning back. She watered the plants, there was not much else needing done this morning, as she had learned the rabbits had learned to make their own breakfast. “I have a job. I make coffee.” said Therese. The rabbit twitched their ears and wiggled their whiskers in approval. “Don’t worry, I still love you, and will have time to help the garden.” promised Therese.
The rabbits smiled back as rabbits do, they loved her garden or not, but the garden had made their lives pleasant. “I need to go eat breakfast, and go to work.” said Therese to the rabbits as she finished her part, leaving the hose on a slow trickle that her father would turn off later, as he always did.
Therese went into the kitchen and pulled a box of cereal out of the cabinet. At first, she was upset, she was out of her favorite. She loved the flavor and the smoothness of the round shapes. When she was younger she found it difficult to eat flakes, but this morning a glare of determination came out of her, and she grabbed a box of Raisin Bran flakes and poured it into the bowl. She took the milk and poured it onto the flakes. She took the spoon from the drawer, sat at the table, scooped up cereal with the spoon, and ate. Victory was hers. Bite after bite, she ate not just to eat, but to eat to get ready for work.
“Strange times, indeed,” said Therese’s father, entering the kitchen, and seeing her eat the cereal flakes, “good morning, I love you.” said her father as he had every morning.
"Good morning Dad, I love you.” said Therese, looking up from her bowl.
“You like flakes now?” asked her father. Still surprised at seeing her choice, remembering many odd hours of the day for years trying to get her to try new foods.
“No, they are terrible.” replied Therese, honest as ever. Therese hated eating flake cereal. She stuck her tongue out in disgust.
Therese’s father made a bowl of the flakes and sat down across the table. “Does that mean we can quit buying chocolate puffs?” asked her father. Her father loved to tease her. Sometimes it irritated Therese, but she tolerated it because she wanted to be treated like a normal child. She did not want to be pampered.
“No.” answered Therese, suffering her flakes enough without wanting to make this a lifetime commitment. She pretended to growl at her father.
“Good, I don’t want you growing up too fast, it is already fast enough.” said her father as he regretted the day he blinked and she went from seven to seventeen.
Therese thought about what he meant. She did not think she had any control over how fast she was growing, she just seemed to get taller. She looked at her hands, they did not seem any bigger than they were the night before. “I will try not to grow up too fast.” said Therese
Therese took her mother’s car to work. Her parents with smiles and tears waved to her as she went down the street. The rabbits watched from the side of the house. All were happy, a little worried, as well as a little sad too. Therese’s mother hugged her husband as their daughter, very carefully and very mindfully drover away from the house. Never would they have imagined she would work somewhere as loud as a cafe, or interact with so many people either. They hugged each other, grateful. “Let me tell you about the new car I’ll need.” said Therese’s mother to her father with a teasing smile.
Therese was glad she started early, as the traffic was lighter in the morning. Her father had insisted on her learning to drive in all conditions, but she found other drivers always unpredictable, and therefore the less traffic the better.
The cafe was a few miles away, which was not bad at all for a commute. Therese had driven by the cafe for years, always curious about it, always wanting to go in, and a few times she had convinced herself to go, but she had talked herself out of it even quicker. The last time she did go, she made it as far as the cow on the door, and turned back quickly when it glared at her. She heard other kids in school talk about the drinks they liked, she had listened intently, and now was finally satisfied she had tried one. Therese was proud of her courage. She listened a lot, and talked little, but now she at least understood what others talked about.
When she arrived, Therese saw Erin inside, putting chairs on the floor, having been stacked on tables for mopping the night before. Therese glared at the cow on the door, stepping to the side, further away from the glaring cow, to knock on the window to let Erin know she was there. One step, two steps, and three steps away from the door, nearly centered on the window, Therese stopped and squared herself before knocking on the window. One, two, three, gentle taps on the window.
Erin looked up and smiled, and walked quickly to the door, unlocking it, and letting Therese in. “Oh good, you came back.” said Erin, who smiled as she opened the door.
“I want the job. Thank you for the job.” said Therese as she entered, going to the side of the doorway as best she could, away from the cow on the door. Her tone and voice were flat, but Erin could hear the excitement.
“You don’t like the cow, do you?” asked Erin. Erin had painted the cow. It seemed like a good idea when she painted it, but time had done it no favors. Still, she never found herself taking the time to change it. The cow had aged terribly.
“I’m sorry.” apologized Therese. She thought she should have tolerated the cow better.
“Don’t be sorry, there is nothing to be sorry for. Maybe it is time for a different painting, the cow is getting a bit old, what do you think we should paint next, maybe a cup of coffee?” said Erin.
“A rabbit.” said Therese. Speaking honestly, and bluntly as ever. Therese liked rabbits and thought it would be nice if people saw a rabbit when they came inside, instead of the terrible cow.
“Alright, we’ll put up a rabbit. Later, I’ll show you how to paint the windows, it will be fun. .” agreed Erin, starting the first day the “Cowffee Cup” had a rabbit on the door. Life didn’t have to make sense all the time, and neither did paintings of bunnies in a cow-themed coffee shop.
Erin was impressed with Therese’s ability to read back the ingredients to each drink after she had read them once. Therese was quickly proficient with the register, and other tasks, like mopping up spills. Therese would be brief in words with customers, and although never rude, she would be sometimes confused by unusual requests, but Erin would only be pleased.
Erin needed the help, and felt Therese was a good fit. The customers would be happy and appreciated the dutifulness Therese displayed to each drink. She was quick, prompt, made little errors, and most of all she was kind.
An old man came in the door at 9:00 AM as he had always done, and would continue to do so as long as he was able. He walked with a cane, a limp, and a sense of rudeness. Erin loved him as much as she despised him, because she loved his rudeness, his displeasure, and his grumpiness which was always betrayed by his commitment to entering the coffee shop at 9:00AM every morning she was open to order coffee, complain about something, and walk home.
The old man tapped his cane on the counter as he always did to announce his displeasure at waiting, as Erin was adjusting her supplies at the shelf. The sudden noise startled Therese who had her back to him, she jumped, dropped a glass cup which fell to the floor shattering, and tears streamed down her face. The glass had broke again as it flew and broke again as it landed.
Erin spun, she saw Therese crying, she saw the old man startled, and the least of her worries was the glass on the floor. “What the fuck?” said Erin to the old man. Erin gave Therese a big squeezing hug. The noise was loud, the echoing of the shattering, the glass flying overwhelmed Therese. The hug helped, Erin squeezed.
“I’m sorry I broke the glass.” apologized Therese. Therese was worried she would lose her job as fast as she gained it, and was already angry at herself for a perceived failure of dropping the glass.
“It isn’t your fault, and I promise you one thing, we will break a lot of glasses together.” said Erin as she reassured Therese. “Sorry about him,” said Erin as she pointed to the old man, “He’s a rude asshole, but I don’t think he did that to be mean.” promised Erin.
The old man stood there startled. He had meant to be rude, he had not meant to make the young girl cry, because he had not even seen her. He loved starting every day with a cup of coffee from Erin, and was sad on Sundays when she was closed. He knew she left the door open for him at 9:00 AM, even though she did not open until 9:30 AM. This made him feel valued, by someone, in a world that would not notice him gone. He could not see well anymore, he liked to get his coffee in the middle of his morning walk and get home before the traffic picked up on the road. He hated crossing the street.
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“I’m sorry.” apologized the man, his own tears wetting his eyes as Therese turned around and looking at him. “I’m an asshole.” added the man. He was impatient because he was always excited for Erin’s attention, and he loved the coffee. Walking home to drink his coffee and read the news was his morning. He was rude, because he felt vulnerable, and now he had done something terrible that he regretted.
“No, you are a person.” said Therese as she corrected him. She walked bravely forward and stood directly across the counter from him, staring him in the eyes with defiance about calling himself an asshole. The old man’s eyes grew wetter. Therese knew all too well what it was like to not have people understand you. She always felt alone in a crowd.
“I’m not going to get away with being rude to you, am I?” said the old man as he found himself thinking aloud. He was too embarrassed to lift his head to look at Therese. He looked at the floor and felt ashamed.
“No.” said Therese bluntly. Therese had seen the kindness in his eyes, and would not tolerate his rudeness. She would demand kindness.
“May I please buy a large black cup of coffee to go?” asked the old man finding himself searching for childhood manners almost forgotten. He kept his head down, embarrassed still at his action.
“It will be two dollars, please.” said Therese, taking the man’s two dollar bills that were already in his hand, as the price had been the same for a long time. Different this time, the old man reached into his pocket and pulled out another dollar for the tip.
“This is a day of firsts.” said Erin looking at the old man in curiosity, as he had never tipped before.
“You never broke a glass for me before.” said the old man, having regained a bit of his crankiness.
“Is your name Buck?” asked Therese, looking at the man, a memory flickering bright, awakened years later.
“It is, but how do you know?” asked the man as he felt puzzled. Buck did not think anyone remembered him or cared. He was puzzled by the young girl remembering him. Buck looked up at the young girl in surprise and then dropped his glance, still ashamed.
The memories flickered brighter in Therese’s mind, she said “You were a plumber, with a red truck.” as Therese saw a faded memory in her mind of Buck outside her house, he was being nice to her, and she was crying. She recognized him, but he looked older, which he was.
“I was he said, but it has been ten years since I did any of that. You really remember me?” said Buck, looking up again.
“Eleven years ago, you pulled my kite out of a tree. It was real high up. You tied your ladder to the side of your truck so you could reach it.” said Therese to Buck.
“I might remember that.” said Buck, trying to remember, it did sound like something he might have done once. Buck had tied his ladder to his truck when he needed to trim his own trees. It was definitely something he would have done. He didn’t trust ladders or trees, he never did.
“You did, you had a blue hood on your red truck, you said it was for good luck.” said Therese.
Buck laughed, he definitely remembered putting the blue hood on his red truck after the original hood was dented along with the front of his grill hitting a deer. He always meant to repaint it, but he never did because he started liking the blue hood, saying it was lucky because he didn’t hit any more deer with it. Buck grinned and said “Yah, that was me.”
Therese reached into the tip jar and pulled out Buck’s dollar and handed it to him. “A tip for pulling my kite out of the tree.” said Therese. Buck looked at Erin, and she nodded approval, he took the dollar, the dollar which now meant more to him than any other dollar he earned. The dollar was torn halfway, but he did not care, he put it in his shirt pocket.
“I find this difficult to believe.” said Erin to Buck.
“That I was a plumber?” asked Buck.
“No, that you were nice and useful.” said Erin.
“Well, maybe, I’ll be nice again, at least when she is here,” said Buck as he nodded to Therese, “but to hell with being useful, I’m retired.” said Buck as he took his cup of coffee and started walking out the door.
“Useful might fix my leaky faucet.” shouted Erin after him. Buck waved his cane pretending to be angry as he started walking down the street.
“I hope he doesn’t start coming twice a day.” said Erin to Therese.
“I do.” said Therese.
Ben smiled, standing at the back entrance watching the exchange. For years, Ben had witnessed Erin’s love-hate relationship with the old man, and now in a single act of kindness, Erin’s new employee Therese had changed the dynamics of the situation entirely. Ben continued to grin, things were going to be different and he would have to find a new source of amusement in the morning other than Erin and the old man trading blows. It’s too bad, Ben thought to himself, the old man could come up with some wild sayings.
Therese spent the rest of the day helping Erin at the coffee shop. The customers proved patient with Therese, paying particular respect to the dutifulness she showed their drinks.
Ben ate lunch at the bar at the end of the counter. He ordered a sandwich which Therese made for him. She asked what he wanted, and he told her whatever, because usually Erin just made him his lunch with whatever meats needed to be used up first. Ben waited with anticipation at his surprise lunch. Therese liked Ben, because he was gentle and kind to her, almost like an older brother. Therese imagined if she had an older brother, he would be like Ben. Therese looked up and smiled at Ben, “Almost Done.” said Therese to him with her flat grin.
“I’m not complaining, I promise.” teased Ben. He liked Therese, rough spots in life taught him to value kind people.
“Here, but if you don’t like it, I can ask Erin to make another.” said Therese. This was the first sandwich she had made at the store, and Erin had simply told her to use whatever meats people ordered, and whatever.
Ben grinned at both corners of his mouth when he saw the sandwhich. He lifted with both hands, and bit into it, savoring the taste. “I know sandwiches, and this ma’am, is a good sandwich.” said Ben.
“I am glad you like it.” said Therese. Her voice was flat and monotone but Ben could tell she was pleased with the compliment.
“This is way better than the packaged vendor crap we sell.” said Ben before taking another bite. “You sure you have never done this before?” asked Ben.
“I am sure.” said Therese.
“How come it took you so long to come here? I could have been eating these sandwiches a long time ago.” asked Ben.
“I was scared. I should have been braver.” apologized Therese, she wished she had come here sooner.
“I think you are plenty brave.” said Ben to Therese in simple honesty.
“I’m not, I am scared of a lot of things. It took me that long just to come here, I tried times before, but was too scared to even come in the door.” said Therese as she opened up a little to Ben, as he was easy to talk to. He had a very genuine spirit to him when he looked at Therese.
“You know what real courage is?” said Ben to Therese.
“Fighting a lion?” asked Therese.
“No. Kindness is true courage. It takes guts to be kind in this world. Mr. Rogers was a badass. It took guts to be Mr. Rogers.” said Ben.
“I try to be kind.” said Therese.
“I have seen you be kind and patient to everyone that walked in the door, and that is why you are brave and have courage, because you are kind. Don’t ever let the world take that from you.” said Ben.
“I’ll try not to.” said Therese, as Ben went back to finishing his sandwich, and Therese went to help a group of customers. When Ben finished, Therese turned and smiled at him. Ben gave a friendly wink before he went back over to his store. Therese genuinely felt welcomed at her new job, everything just felt right to her.
At the end of the night business slowed enough, that Erin and Therese scraped the cow painting off the door and painted their rabbit. It was bright, pink, holding a cup of coffee, and still said “Cowffee Cup” above it, but it was a beautiful bunny. Erin was enjoying herself, she liked the change even if it didn’t mean sense to her, but Therese definitely liked the bunny as much as she dreaded the cow.
“The trick to painting a window, from in here, is the inner layer is what counts the most, because it is closest to the glass first.” said Erin as she painted.
“Kind of like people. It’s what’s inside that counts the most.” said Therese as she watched Erin paint the bunny.
“Yah, just like people.” said Erin, she liked the girl’s philosophy.
“So what are you going to do with your tips?” asked Erin, as they divided the jar. As a business owner, she wasn’t so much as happy to split her share, as a feet owner, she was glad to have rested her feet several times during the day. As she split the earnings, her feet reminded her it was an expense well spent.
“I want to buy an espresso machine for home.” said Therese.
“Your parents really never let you drink coffee before?” asked Erin.
“They thought it might be too stimulating.” explained Therese.
“Well is it?” asked Erin.
“Very stimulating.” said Therese as she smiled, pretending to throw her money in the air. Therese smiled her half-smile and Erin grinned boldly back.
Ben and Vivo entered the shop. “Hailing frequencies open.” said Vivo, as they walked through the back door of the store and into the Cowffee Cup.
“Hi ladies.” said Ben following.
“You’re late.” said Erin pretending to be angry, with her hands on her hips.
“It was busy at the store.” defended Vivo. He was taller than Ben and carefree by default, but slouched out of habit.
“Busy trying to win a bet about balancing a mop on his head.” said Ben, both men giving each other a high five. Their high five propelled by Ben’s naturally strong shoulder cracked loudly. Therese was surprisingly not bothered by the sudden loud noise.
“Boys.” said Erin while looking at Therese, shaking her head in disapproval at them. “Do you have a boyfriend?” asked Erin.
“No.” said Therese as she blushed, there was a boy she liked, but she knew she didn’t exist to him.
“Told you she was smart.” said Erin, while looking at Vivo.
“Let’s lock up, closing time.” announced Erin, and they all headed out the door. Erin locked the shop, and walked Therese to her car.
“Friday, after school?” asked Erin.
“Only if I have to wait that long.” said Therese.
“Enjoy being free now, there is plenty of time to work later,” said Erin to Therese, “and besides, I expect you to be able to run this place by the middle of summer so I can finally take a vacation.” said Erin as she had longed dream of a vacation that had never happened.
Dread of responsibility filled Therese’s eyes, and fear showed on her face. “Don’t worry, you’ll be ready.” said Erin, waving goodbye and walking back to Vivo and Ben. Erin watched Therese walk carefully and deliberately to her car, stop, open the door, look around and leave. She liked that Therese was careful.
“Does she have any sisters?” said Ben to Erin.
“Pervert, she’s seventeen.” said Erin, teasing Ben.
"Not that, I meant for us to hire. Maybe Vivo and I want to go on vacation too.” said Ben.
“There’s two of you, you can go on vacation any time you want.” said Erin and then added, “What about Peter?”
“We can’t go on vacation together, who would stay and play video games while Peter worked?” said Vivo, giving a high five to Ben. Erin hit both of them with her purse. Then hit Vivo again for being dunce towards their relationship as always. Everyone laughed as Vivo pretended to be hurt.
Therese drove away carefully and deliberately, although slightly less careful and more deliberate thinking of the coffee machine she would buy the next day. The rabbits watched from the bushes, as she came home, and hurried to their homes to sleep the night. Therese’s parents were waiting for her, watching TV in the living room. “How as work?” asked her parents.
“Wonderful.” said Therese, the gave them a hug and heading to her room tired for a much-needed sleep. Tomorrow, she would buy a coffee machine, after she tended the garden of course. The next morning, as soon as she could, Therese bought a coffee and espresso machine, a small one that made a terrible sound she hated as it steamed the milk. She giggled into her coffee when she drank her first cup at home. She was embarrassed, she cleaned up the spill and then smiled into her coffee. It was very stimulating, she thought.