I had been on time. Alas, the bus had been early. It had also been speeding. I had three options: drive to work, wait for the next bus or call the police in the hopes that they would catch and detain the lawbreaking bus long enough for me to reach it. I decided to wait. Within ten seconds of that decision, I decided to reward my unusual decisiveness with a cup of slow-brewed coffee. The cafe I visited was empty when I entered. Nobody was there. Nobody was drinking espresso or reading the newspaper, nobody was admiring the giant tiki statue propping the door open. Most importantly, nobody was behind the counter to take my order. After admiring giant tiki statue for a few seconds, I stood on my toes, leaned on the counter and said in my friendliest loud voice, "Hello?" "Be right there," said somebody with a woman's voice. Moments later, a tall, red-headed woman, who I will name Marcia, appeared from the storage room. She wiped her hands on a white towel, which she set on the counter, and said, "What can I get for you?" I ordered my coffee and Marcia set up the brew bar. She was just pouring the hot water over the grinds when another woman rushed through the cafe's back entrance and behind the counter. She was shorter than Marcia, had short brown hair and wore horn-rimmed glasses. She doesn't know it, but her name is Eva. Eva started making herself a drink. I don't know what it was, but it involved steamed milk, at least five different flavored syrups and four shots of espresso, which she didn't need because she already had a good head of liveliness on her. "You won't believe it," she said emphatically to Marcia, who poured more hot water for my coffee. It was nearly a third full by this time. There was a pause, the type of pause that usually follows when people start a story or a rant and want the audience to coax the rest of it out of them. Marcia, seeing Eva' eagerness to release her tirade, obliged and said, "What?" "She gave me an F on the assignment. An F! Can you believe it?" She said this as she poured two shots of espresso into her cup and started the next two shots. "She hates me! I'm the only one who got an F on the assignment and I got the exact same answers as everybody else. That's four Fs on five assignments. I can't stand her!" The water had stopped dripping, but my cup was only half full. Marcia poured more as a man popped his head in by the tiki statue and said, "There's a car out here with its engine running, but nobody driving it." "As long as it isn't going anywhere," I quipped. The man gave me a look as if to say, "Good morning, you're an idiot." I silently agreed as I stared at my feet. "It's mine," said Eva. The man nodded and disappeared, leaving Eva to continue her rant. "This is Introduction to Sign Language, for crying out loud!" she exclaimed. I think she said this for my benefit because she was looking at me, possibly thinking I was interested in her plight. I wasn't. What I was really interested in was my coffee, which was now two two-thirds full. "How can anybody get an F in beginning sign language? Aren't they supposed to go easy on you? I should have taken Spanish. But no, I didn't want to be like everybody else and take Spanish." Marcia nodded because she was a concerned coworker and possibly a friend. I nodded because I was an unwitting participant and afraid. I wished Marcia would pour faster. Eva continued, "Why do universities have this dumb language requirement? Two semesters! If she's teaching next semester, I think I'll die. As it is, I'm going to complain about her to the dean. She's so biased!" My coffee was finished at last and I grabbed it as quickly and gently as I could, said thank you to Marcia and took the cup over to the counter with the milk and sugar. "Maybe I should drop this class and just finish French. I took two years of French in high school, you know," she said, directed more at me than Marcia. She seemed to be done making her drink and I knew the timing would work in such a way that no matter what I did, we would be exiting the cafe at the same time. I made for the door and Eva followed, taking her leave of Marcia. I started off towards the bus stop, but Eva's voice stopped me. She wasn't done and I didn't want to be rude. "And I've tried to talk to her, you know. But she doesn't listen. Well, she's deaf, but still, she doesn't listen! And now I have a long drive to take her class and take more stress! It's so unfair!" When it comes to the advice department, I'm awful. In a pinch, if an aspiring writer asked me for a tip, I would never come up with, "Write what you know." I would probably come up with something like, "Type legibly." So it came as no surprise that my parting words to Eva were, "Long drives. Never fun. Um, well, I hope things work out for you. Good luck." I don't think she actually heard anything I said because she didn't scowl at me and remark, "Dude, whatever." Instead, she opened her car door, seemed to calm down a little and said, "Thanks for listening to me go on about my class. Have a good day!" "You too," I said blankly, backing away. I turned, crossed the street and walked to the bus stop where I decided the next time I want to reward my decisiveness that I would reward it at a different cafe. I then caught the bus and had an ordinary day.