Short Stories

I Like My Coffee With Two Sugars and Honey

I walked into the office, something on my mind, "I'm leaving Kenna." I announced to the back room full of my colleagues who knew of my situation.

"Leaving Kenna?" Jensen asked, poking his head out of an examination room. One he was probably cleaning, of course.

"I'm also quitting. Here's my letter of resignation right here. I'm going to talk to Roger right this moment. Where might he be?"

"Wha- What has gotten into you? Have some coffee, lay off the crack." Tapenga called, walking into the room with a cup of black coffee. Probably with two sugars and honey, she knew how I liked it.

"Crack is for amateurs and I've had enough coffee to give me an anuerysm. I'm giving that up too." I put my finger on my chin, "What's a suitable replacement for crack and coffee? Anyway, I'm going to drop this on his desk. Maybe I'll be flautist or an anthropologist." I rambled on, making my way down the row towards my boss's office.

"Lucas, don't do this. Come on. Did you and Kenna have a fight? You two are so in love. I don't understand why you'd break it off when wedding bells were in your future."

"Wedding bells could have been in my future, in fact, they still could be. But the people at the alter are not going to be Kenna and me. I'm leaving Kenna, leaving work, and I'm going to be a flautist. End of discussion. Now where's Roger?" I continued down the hall, my clean resignation letter in my hand.

"For the love of Christ-"

"And another thing. I'm now agnostic. There's a higher power and God is definitely not it." I looked back at my coworkers, the people I had come to call my family. They looked at me like I was walking around in a pair of pink briefs that belonged to a pre-adolescent child who shat himself.

"Lucas! What has gotten into you? You sounds like you're setting yourself up for your life to end!" Jensen shouted, standing up and shaking my shoulders. I stepped back, dusting my shoulders off.

"Why would I do that? I'm simply tired of this life. Non-suicidal, mind you, but I've had some thoughts. Why deal with the shit that goes on in my life? Why live under my father's coat tail, deal with everything he dealt with, obey what he has commanded? I don't want to marry Kenna, I don't want to be a doctor, I don't want a cup of sodding coffee with two bloody sugars and honey in it. I want to explore the world, I want to change it, I want to do something with my life and goddammit, I will." Jensen leaned against the desk, Tapenga sighed loudly and began drinking my coffee.

She turned to the side and spewed it all over the wall, dropping the cup to the wall.

Walter, the old man who sometimes came in to work, walked in and looked at us fools. He looked at the spot where the coffee was slowly seeping into the ground and the spot where coffee and spittle were slowly sliding down the wall.

He shook his head, "Will you try and not make a mess this early. Some of us don't desire to have Roger walking around with a stick up his ass and a knife in someone's neck." He grumbled, weakly tossing a white towel towards Tapenga.

She wiped her mouth submissively and got to work on catching the coffee and spittle on the wall before it reached the ugly blue folders and black picture frames below it.

"Good morning, paps. I was just handing in my letter of resignation. Have you seen Roger by any chance?" I asked, folding my arms, resting the letter on my right arm. Walter just blinked at me. "Is that a no?"

"Walter, don't answer him. He's acting like a fool." Jensen spat, loathing seeping out of his words. I barely blinked.

"Jensen, don't be so hard on Lucas. Maybe he's having a mid-life crisis." Tapenga said softly. I sent a brief smile her way.