Melanie’s Coffee Maker

Melanie’s Coffee Maker

by Mykola (Mick) Dementiuk

A cold morning, which was a bit weird since this winter had been a mild one with temps at night in the lows 30’s and the days enjoyed in the 50’s. But today’s January day was different, barely reaching 12 degrees in the morning, and with the wind chill it feels almost like zero or lower.

Melanie shivered and checked her thermometer.

Damn, 49 degrees, what the hell was the landlord doing? Ripping us off, that’s for sure, she thought.

She wrapped herself in a Brooklyn College t-shirt and sweat pants and bustled through the kitchen to make some coffee, her favorite, cappuccino, made in a new coffee maker, K-cup by Keurig, a bit expensive but the taste was heavenly, as good as restaurant brands and at least she could have her morning coffee without anyone looking at her or bothering her. She remembered how every morning she would see them making coffee at the Whole Foods and when she asked the clerk how it was made, he sluggishly and sleepily answered, “Machine…”

Melanie frowned and shook her head.

“I figure that, but what machine, how?”

The clerk yawned. “This machine, I don’t know what’s it called, Coffee Maker, I suppose.” And he yawned again and looked like he was going to drop.

Melanie again frowned. “What the hell is the brand name? It must have a name on it.” By then she was pretty pissed off.

The clerk bent down to the machine, trying to figure out exactly what is said.

“Looks like Keurig, whatever that means,” he muttered, stuttering the pronunciation

“How do you spell it?”

“K, E, U…” he spelled it out for her as the machine spat out hot water over the cappuccino coffee K-cup; Melanie wondered if it was a legal practice to use the K-cups for individual sales but didn’t think so.

As the machine brewed, spitting out water on the coffee grounds as a heavenly aroma filled the coffee shop air.

Ah, cappuccino…, Melanie thought, biting her lips but instead turned around and walked out of the coffee shop.

“Hey, four-fifty!” the clerk shouted after her, naming the price of coffee for a cup.

Melanie didn’t say anything but thought, Screw you! And decided to head up to Macy’s and get her own coffee maker, she walked firmly out. Was the best decision she made in the New Year. Now if only the stupid heat would come up, she thought, taking a sip of cappuccino and banging on the pipes.

“Damn landlord!” she spat out and had another swallow of her cappuccino. Ah heavenly…

***

A little story for my friend Melanie N ;)