He couldn’t kick the habit. He kept on taking the same path to the same coffee shop every day. Three times a day.
He knew he should have been working at it, but the same old dreary daily grind did nothing for him. But it was a lovely view.
The barrister smiled. The man was about to go back to his cottage when he said, “See you at three.”
“I don’t think so,” the barrister said.
The man turned back. “Hmm? What did you say?”
“Something’s going to happen. Something wonderful.”
The man wondered what she meant and he went home sipping his coffee.
By the time he got home, he had half a cup of coffee to go. He was optimistic as he had saved half a cup for now although half was already gone.
He checked his watch and it was 12.00pm. “Three hours before my next coffee,” he muttered to himself. “Can’t wait. In the meantime, I’ll enjoy this cup.”
He took a sip. And another. And another.
By the end of the coffee, he wondered if he developed a habit. It dawned on him, actually, like a revelation.
“Old habits die hard,” he said to himself, muttering away. There was a knock on the door. The man opened the door and saw the barrister from the coffee shop.
“Hello!” said the man. “Have you come with a coffee?”
“I sure have,” she replied. She whipped out a takeaway cup.
The man grabbed the cup.
“Before you drink,” said the barrister. “Something’s special in that coffee. As I said, I won’t be seeing you again today.”
She walked away and the man shut the door.
“I wonder what’s in it,” muttered the man. “I hope it’s good!” The man laughed and laughed out loud.
He drank some more and laughed and laughed.
He laughed so hard he didn’t feel like going back to the coffee shop again.
“I think that coffee solved my habit. I don’t feel like a coffee ever again.”
The man went back to the coffee shop the next morning to ask the barrister what she put in his coffee.
“I put in something special , I told you.”
“It made me laugh. What was it?”
She leaned into him. “I’ll let you in on a secret.”
The man leaned into her. “Yes?”
“It’s from coffee beans.”
The man took a step back and laughed. “What kind of coffee bean?”
“I don’t know. But it’s from a goat.”
The man laughed again.
“A goat?”
The man laughed and laughed.
The barrister said, “A goat’s belly.”
The man’s face shot white. “Inside a goat?”
“Yes. Would you like more of that or something different?”
The man said, “I never want to laugh like that again. Get me something different, please.”
The barrister smiled. She knew that he’d be back.
“I thought I had kicked the habit. But those beans were disgusting.”
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