#FreakshowFriday

Chapter 24: @graffa_midnight

October 18, 2023

"Are you heading out for coffee?"

Jamie, on the verge of leaving the hotel, freezes upon hearing her father's words. They're calm, neutral, even curious—nothing at all indicates something negative is coming her way. She mentally braces for an attack regardless, just in case.

"Yeah," she admits. She has to lie about too many things already these days, so she should be truthful now. "Is... there something wrong with that?"

There is so, so much that could be considered wrong with it, it's crazy. Jamie knows she needs to do something about her excessive caffeine consumption; her recent energy drink overdose was a good reminder that, unless she gets her shit together, she'll keep poisoning her body until she's out of days to shave off her lifespan. It's just that—and this is plain embarassing to admit—she gets serious withdrawal symptoms if she forgoes her usual caffeine fix. The world becomes a jumbled mess of headaches, foggy lethargy and irritable anxiety, all clouded in a haze of complete and utter joylessness. So if Jamie wants to quit, she'll have to start it really slow and really steady.

Jamie excels at neither slow nor steady. But she has been trying to cut back the past few days, and she'll finally get it right sometime soon—fifth time's the charm, surely, and this she vows to tell Dad should he come out swinging about this particular bad habit of hers.

(It occurs to her only then that he won't. He isn't aware of the extent of Jamie's caffeine dependence. He hasn't been present enough in her life the last eight years to be privy to this knowledge. That means expecting an attack over it was just silly.

But maybe, in some small way, an attack like that would've been preferable. Jamie isn't sure.)

Dad leans back in his seat. He was reading the news on his phone before flagging Jamie down in the lobby. The WiFi is better here than in his and Mom's room, he claims, and he enjoys watching people milling about the square outside. He gestures at the hotel's coffee machine. "You might want to consider giving the local facilities another chance."

Clearly, this is the parent responsible for Jamie's host of inattention issues. "The coffee machine is shi– broken," Jamie reminds him. Poison is poison, but she'll at least choose to ingest the sludge that actually tastes good.

"Just try it, Jamie."

It's an order, not a suggestion. Orders have always rubbed Jamie the wrong way, but she's gotten better at picking her battles in recent years. This battle is of the variety not worth fighting. She stands to lose nothing by humouring her old man a little. If necessary, she'll just take the plastic cup of toxic waste outside and dispose of its contents discreetly in the nearest canal.

So she gives the machine another chance, expecting to be horrified once more. Except what ends up in her cup looks suspiciously like proper coffee this time around. She picks the drink up and finds she seems to be holding a very decent espresso. One that even passes the sniff test. Emboldened by this, Jamie dares to take a sip, careful not to burn her mouth.

The coffee isn't quite the quality she'd receive at the nearby café she's been frequenting since Nathan found it their first morning here, but it's not bad. Not bad at all.

"Holy shit." Jamie involuntarily grins, forgetting to censor herself for politeness's sake. "This is coffee."

"A good samaritan MacGyvered the machine." Dad's tiny smile carries a hint of mischievous pride. "Might save you the walk."

Dad can and will fix any broken object in his immediate vicinity. Guerilla-style, without waiting for permission—they should be thanking me, I'm not even charging them. Vehicles may be his forte and livelihood, but Jamie has yet to encounter any broken thing he couldn't get working and functional again through talent, insight and sheer force of will. Dad spent countless insomniac nights sitting at the kitchen table, working with his hands, building model cars and fixing home appliances brought in by neighbours who'd otherwise already have written their items off.