Starbucks Stories

Hace mas de dos años me di la de tarea de escribir cuentos sobre las personas que veía en el Starbucks de Laredo como ejercicio para escribir. Me fue muy grata la experiencia porque pude escribir mucho, tal vez no muy bueno por ser el principio, y también encontré un lugar donde escribir sin muchas distracciones. Tenia poco de terminar mi licenciatura y empezaba a dedicarme a la escritura. Este es uno de los mini cuentos que escribir durante ese periodo de mi vida.

Samantha and John’s first date

Do you remember all your first dates? The awkwardness of the conversation and the way that everything said is thought of at least five times. Even if the two people on a date have been good friends, there is always stress with first dates because of all the possible expectations. The title “date” stresses some people to the point that it is too awkward for them to be themselves.

Next to me are two friends who are on their first official date. They’ve been friends for some time but had never thought of becoming more involved until yesterday and today marks the first of several first dates they will have until they become comfortable with each other. His name is John and her name is Samantha. He is a timid red headed college professor that struggles in his job because of his timid nature. John would much rather sit in his desk for hours each day focusing on research and reading instead of having to teach college students. Teaching is the only way he can be paid to research and have all the tools necessary for the research. John is in charge of five introductory history classes and every day he deals with beginning students who have yet to appreciate the real value of history. Everyday he struggles to keep his students interested in his lectures and his mouse-like voice does not help him. For the students, John’s class is an opportunity to catch up on sleep or to study for their other exams. If only John, like so many other college professors, could just research.

Samantha on the other had is more outgoing and an all around good person. She is social, most of the time, and is always flashing her gentle smile to strangers. As she drinks coffee with John, she seems to wander around the establishment and greet people. She takes a break from John’s shyness by saying hi to her friends sitting outside and as she is making her way back in, a dentist begins conversing with her. Her good nature is visible even to those who don’t know her and, just like the dentist, those who see her are intrigued. The dentist, a known customer of Starbucks, is a typical middle aged single man who thrives on meeting young women and adds them to his long list of ex-wives. Because he makes so much money, being one of the few dentists with his expertise in this small town, he can change his women as he changes his car. Yes, I mean this literally. Every new marriage brings a new car and every new car brings him another marriage. He might not change wives as often as he changes his underpants but he does change them as often as he changes vehicles. It must be nice to have so many…cars. I’m sure he thoroughly enjoys it. As he sparks up a conversation with Samantha, he lights up his cigar, a delicacy because his friend brought him a box from Cuba. He sits in his chair as if allowing Samantha to admire his qualities and her good fortune. Sadly for the dentist, Samantha is not interested. Her thoughts are with John, shy John, who is patiently waiting for her inside and hoping this Casanova dentist does not steal her away. After listening to him talk about his cars and the recent trip he made to Africa to hunt endangered animals, she finds a pause in the conversation and politely excuses herself. Can’t the dentist see she is not interested in him and not at all impressed with his money and lavish lifestyle. She knows what men like him do to women; she saw her mother go through it as she tried to remarry after one nasty divorce from her father. Every new boyfriend only broke her mother’s heart and left her with all her hopes and dreams splattered.

As Samantha walks back to John’s table, John’s heart is filled with joy and butterflies fly around his stomach just like a teenager who saw his crush. She apologizes for her delay and explains that the dentist was eager to talk to her and she omits any reference to the dentist hitting on her. Lets hope the dentist does not find another victim among today’s coffee drinkers.

Because Samantha not only understands John’s shyness but also appreciates it, she casually keeps their conversation going. She asks him about work and he gives her a glimpse of his nervous nature by explaining to him the travesties he encounters every day with his students. John teaches six classes all covering the exact same thing and has a hard time remembering what he has taught in each class. Sometimes he is fortunate and all his classes are on the same pace, but every once in a while he encounters those opinionated students that get a thrill from giving professors migraines. He recalls having lost thirty whole minutes from his lecture about the civil war to discuss the true motives behind the South’s separation from the union. The student, the only one that year that seemed to pay attention to his lecture, insisted the South had every right to make its own laws and regulations even if they went against the national government’s wishes. Although he opposed slavery and racism, the student strongly favored state’s rights and made sure John understood his opinion over and over again. John quickly snaps back from this horrendous memory of his first year teaching and continues to talk about his job. This year, his students are nice and the majority still take many notes and pay attention. He would much rather research about the Great Depression so he can work on an article he hopes to publish.

As Samantha gently smiles at him and attentively listens, she wonders how long his shyness will last around her. She already dreams of the days when he can be himself and not get shaky around her. Poor John. His body shakes so much that his voice reflects the shaking as he nervously tries to put together cohesive sentences. The pitch of his voice covers all decibels. Some words are squeaky while others are said in a deep voice that reminds Samantha of some sort of radio host. She sighs as she imagines a coffee date with John without the shaking and the oddly pronounced words; a date that consists of only laughing and sharing intimate secrets like lovers do; oh if only he would feel more comfortable. Lucky for John, Samantha is not only a very patient person but also very confident she has made the right choice in wanting to become John’s girlfriend. Even though she is not the type to plan a wedding after the first date, a strange quality among her friends, she knows John can be the one. She just needs to be patient with him and one day, one fortunate day they will be like old friends with each other and the only thing they’ll have to worry about is what new drink the should experiment with.

John, on the other hand, does not perceive Samantha’s confidence in their relationship. He is so nervous and unsure of himself that he doubts whether her generosity is just for the sake of being polite or if she truly cares for him the way lovers care for each other. He want to open up to her and share with her his goals and plans for the future, for their future.

If only Samantha and John could know that in about thirty or forty years, they will be those old couples that sit next to each other in complete silence knowing that silence is more intimate than all the conversation they can have. Silence is the true test of love because silence requires confidence in yourself and in your spouse. Silence allows the other four senses to truly communicate all emotions. However, Samantha and John will not know that this date is the beginning of a lifetime of coffee and romance because if they did know, there would be no mystery or anticipation of everything that can be between them.