, Research Paper
1/29/01
For Some Odd & Strange Reason
It was a cold and blistering December morning on the campus of SUNY Brockport. Waking up and going to class on these dreadful mornings are a students worst nightmare. But for some odd and strange reason, something possessed me to get up early and retrieve a hot cup of java from the college coffee shop, Jitterbugs. Getting coffee was a regular occurrence for me every Monday afternoon after my classes were finished for the day. But for some odd and strange reason, be it the cold weather, the thought of a steamy cup of Joe or perhaps the dire need for caffeine, I managed to pull myself out of bed and go to Jitterbugs. Now because I am an afternoon regular at the coffee shop, I thought I knew everyone who worked there. Maybe not by their name but by their face, personality and their ability to make select coffee specialties like the double mocha latte with just a bit of foam. But when I walked in the door, something new hit me other than the smell of fresh Colombian coffee at eight o’clock in the morning.
The first thing I saw when I walked into the shop was this young attractive girl working behind the counter that I had never seen or spoken to before. For the first time in my life I actually felt attracted to someone that I didn’t know. She was about 5’8’’ with a nice figure; blue eyes and light brown hair that she had taken up while she worked but showed her beautiful face and smile perfectly. When I got up to the counter to order my hot beverage, for some odd and strange reason, my mind went blank. This had never happened to me before when ordering a cup of coffee. After about a minute of silence that felt like an eternity, I finally spoke my first words to the java goddess. Now me being a coffee connoisseur, I figured maybe I should order something nice yet tasty. So with no hesitation the words “ Double Caramel Mocha Latte with a shot of vanilla and no foam” spewed from my mouth. But as she slowly turned away to make the drink and for some odd and strange reason I thought to myself. “What if she doesn’t know how to make the double latte; What if this is her first day; What if she thinks I am a *censored* for ordering a drink that she doesn’t know how to make?” I waited anxiously and nervously as she made the latte. I couldn’t even bring myself to watch during the few minutes it took her to make it. But when she returned to me with the frothy non-foamy beverage, I knew without even tasting it that she had made it perfectly. She handed me my drink with a smile and I was off. Two weeks went by and for some odd and strange reason I found myself traveling to Jitterbugs before class instead of after to see this girl. And everyday my Double Caramel Mocha Latte with a shot of vanilla and no foam tasted even better. Soon winter break came and as painful as it was to leave the frigid weather of Brockport, I returned home for a much-needed vacation.
During my rest from school, I continually thought of the enchanting girl behind the counter making my latte. I couldn’t wait to return to college, not for the classes not for my friends but for her. But when I returned the first Monday morning of the new semester to see the girl that had occupied my mind for the past six weeks, I was shocked to find that she was gone. I immediately asked the manager what had happened to her? And she told me “ A week after the semester had ended she left, she had found a new job working at a Starbucks in Rochester.” I was crushed, the girl of my dreams gone forever and I never even knew her name. And for some odd and strange reason, I never drank coffee again.