Caffeine for the Soul

Author's Note

I still remember the details of the story. Even though it occurred years ago.

As a new and naïve member of corporate America, I purchased the pressed particle board entertainment center and displayed it proudly in my apartment's living area. I positioned the second-hand plaid fabric couch so it appeared to occupy more space than it actually did, bought a frying pan that made it out of the cupboard less often than the Tupperware used to hold my takeout Chinese leftovers, and set out to make a difference in the world.

If I was going to do that, make a difference, I would need to adopt practices as others before me, in order to become successful. Like learning to drink coffee. That word naïve is not lost on you, dear reader, is it? I always loved the smell of coffee but never understood how someone drank it, this sludge that tasted like some alternate source of rocket propulsion for a mission to the moon.

Speaking of lunar missions, that brings me to a serendipitous segue. I've always been fascinated by the wonder of flight. How a three-hundred-fifty-ton aircraft can overcome the force of gravity is confounding. It rekindles a flame of faith inside. Anything is possible when we fully immerse ourselves in the pursuit of an endeavor. With imagination, energy, and unbridled passion.

I'm authorized by the FAA to fly from the left seat of a single-engine propeller airplane as pilot-in-command. The earthly landscape that slips away beneath me after taking off delivers a fresh perspective. It's liberating. It's energizing. It's therapeutic. I cringe when I say this, but I'm prouder of receiving that right to fly than I am in attaining my four-year college degree. I share these words with confidence because earning my private pilot certificate is something that I chose to do, not something I was told I should do.

Alas, I digress from the actual story I'm doing my best to tell. That's what happens when your initial infatuation with words has become a lifelong love affair.

Before I became a pilot, I flew ... virtually ... on a computer screen. I'd fire up my flight simulator, chart a course from the former Meigs Field single runway airstrip in downtown Chicago en route to the sprawling expanse of O'Hare International Airport just a few short miles away, passing Soldier Field and the Sears Tower along the way. I explored the world, one tiny pixel at a time.

It was on the evening when this story took place that I visited my local Wal-Mart, deciding I was going to give this coffee thing an honest shot. My future success depended on fitting in with the masses, my naivety once again on full display. With a fresh pot of coffee and a virtual airplane lined up on runway 27R of Chicago's O'Hare International Airport, I took off on two new adventures at once, a cross-country flight to Seattle and the consumption of this mysterious entity with supposedly magical powers called coffee. Incidentally, the irony that the headquarters of Starbucks are located in Seattle is not lost on me.

I didn't make it to Seattle that evening, but I did stare at the popcorn ceiling above my bed for hours, counting each individual kernel twice over. Why? Because the first 12-cup pot of java brewed in my brand new coffee maker was coursing through my veins with an adrenaline rush that far surpassed anything I had experienced in my entire life. It was in that moment I learned a life lesson, even if it may not have been an expected one at the time, and even if the contextual meaning of it didn't come full circle until penning these words many years later.

Small doses of caffeine, consumed at just the right time and in just the right amount, sometimes provide a more desirable effect and is much more enjoyable than binge consumption.

That long-winded version of a rather short story brings me to the title of this offering. Caffeine for the Soul. I read voraciously. I write the same way. I've written non-fiction personal essays, short stories, and novels. No matter what I read or write, and regardless of which genre it falls into, words have power. Plain and simple. The fact we can arrange twenty-six discrete alphabetic characters into an infinite number of words, sentences, paragraphs, and stories leaves me with as much awe and wonder as the scientific principle of that three-hundred-fifty-ton airplane being able to leave the ground.

Indeed, anything is possible. An enlightening thought dawned on me while contemplating the intersection of my experiences with flying, writing, and coffee. Both flying and coffee provided a physical adrenaline rush, albeit in very different ways. Are there other forms of caffeine out there, yet undiscovered? Are we overlooking an important reality in our unique human existence? I am probably still naïve, but I am also still quite stubborn because I believe the answer to both of these questions is an unequivocal yes.

So, what are these bold-faced passages? Is it part of an evolving personal mission statement? I know, it's closer in length to a post-doctoral dissertation, but I'm glad you asked. Actually, I'm just glad you're still reading.

Not everyone has the time to sit down and read a full-length novel. Maybe some don't even have the time to read a short story. But, 500 to 1000 words? We're able to consume that rather quickly. In the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee. Or tea, or soda, or fruit smoothie. Feel free to insert your beverage of choice.

These stories, these short short stories are intended to give you a small dose of that missing caffeine in our lives. A good story is caffeine for the soul. That's the aim of this book and the pieces of flash fiction contained within it. To offer you a compelling story, one consumed in the time it takes to drink a cup of coffee, but still provides a jolt of adrenaline that hopefully sticks with you long after reading it.

It's in the melding of our individual thoughts and stories that we fabricate something bigger than the sum of its parts and cultivate a world that is more interesting and meaningful. So, I invite everyone to pull up a chair and grab your inspirational beverage of choice. Join in on the conversation and help fill all our mugs with caffeine for the soul.

Stay Inspired,
Dave