Coffee Aroma & Ocean Breeze
Maria steps quietly into the coffee shop. The familiar odor and unfamiliar chatter surround her frail body. She hasn’t eaten since 6 o’clock this morning, and the half eaten bagel still lies on her favorite blue and white paisley china plate. Although her memory of Michael has begun to erode like a sea-side sandcastle, she could never forget the warm, nutty smell on the last day she hugged him. The roasted aroma helps her remember those peaceful mornings. She doesn’t recall the precise time of those mornings, but she knows that the sun hadn’t shone through the drapes and cascaded onto the frigid tile floor which his bare feet would freely walk. Maria closes her eyes. Her eyelids are hiding the blue hue, translucently glazed with tears.
Michael had stared deeply into her dazzling eyes, gently grasping her brown curls, hanging delicately down her back. Pulling her closer, without moving his gaze, he whispered, “Someday let’s walk along the pacific shore. Walk and walk and walk until we collapse onto the cool sand…”
He brushed a strand of hair that fell in front of her eye, and tucked it behind her ear.
“And we’ll sleep there until the sun turns us red, or the waves sweep us away.”
Maria laughed and placed Michael’s hands onto her hips, swaying side to side. She giggles, “And we’ll dance to the beat of the waves.”They danced for a brief moment. Michael took her index finger, lifted it, and twirled her.
Gripping their coffee mugs, they simultaneously took a sip. The taste was so usual, and easily acquired, unlike their dreams of escaping their life in a city that had been overtaken with crime, poverty, and pollution. For now, they could only fantasize about a life so pure.
The chatter surrounding Maria in the coffee shop begins to fade into the cries of seagulls, as she envisions a panoramic seascape in front of her. A tear splashes onto her bottom lip. She licks it slowly. She savors it; the sea-spray of waves. And in that moment she is swept away by coffee aroma and the ocean breeze.
