Another Cup of
Coffee
by Bill Tope
Three a.m.
Saturday morning found the Corner
Diner overflowing with customers, many
merely
Resting or else consuming biscuits and
gravy and
Other comestibles in order to counteract
the prodigious
Amounts of alcohol they had consumed at
the taverns.
This was almost exclusively an after-bar
crowd.
"Hey, Donna Lee, another cup of
coffee, Babe,"
Growled Mick, a rather bilious man,
shouting from his
Table in the center of the small diner.
Mick, like most
Of the patrons, was thoroughly drunk.
"Comin', Mick,"
Replied the waitress, who was working the
entire
Room by herself.
"Now, Goddamnit," he roared
holding up his
Empty cup as if to prove the urgency of
his
Need. Finally free, Donna Lee
sidled up to
Mick's table, coffee pot in hand.
"Youse a good girl,"
Said Mick thickly. "Real
obedient." Donna Lee narrowed
Her eyes at him. "You could
use a real man to straighten
You out some, though," he added with
a smirk.
He reached out to fondle the waitress's
prominent
Posterior, smacking his lips.
"Hands to yourself,
Mick," warned Donna Lee. She
knew that, aside
From being lecherous and gross, Mick was
married
To some long-suffering woman that nobody
ever saw.
"Watch you gonna do about it, girl?"
taunted Mick, now
Rubbing her backside with the palm of his
hand. "Fill my
Damn cup," he ordered, holding the
vessel in his lap.
"All the way!" he added sharply.
Without a word, Donna Lee raised the hand
Containing the coffee pot above her head,
held the
Steaming vessel over Mick's lap and
poured the
Scalding coffee into his cup, spilling
not a drop.
In the end, not a teaspoon more could
have been
Added. . Mick's eyes widened and he
held his
Breath, his face assuming the aspect of a
ripe
Tomato.
Taking a breath at last, Mick remarked,
"You got
A right steady hand there, Donna Lee."
"lt's not
Always so steady, Mick; remember that."
"I will,"
He promised and, now thoroughly sober,
tossed
A twenty onto the table and swiftly
quitted the diner.
You could hear the bell tinkle as he
slammed the door.
A thin smile danced across Donna Lee's
face as
She pocketed the bill and proceeded to
fill
Other cups, in a more conventional
fashion.
Originally
published in 2021 in the magazine:
Children, Churches and Daddies |
|
