I Take Mine Black

I never understood when I was a kid what it was with adults and coffee. It was, "Would you like some?" "Won't you stay for some?" "How do you like yours?" "What brand is that?" "Did you get a good price?" and, "Oh, this is really good!" It was maddening to me, and I just wanted to say, "Shut up and drink your g--damned coffee! It is just the same that you drank yesterday, and probably, a week ago, Sunday! But now I understand and youth may be excused the value of a shared cup when everything is going wrong, or the value of precisely thirteen spoonfuls everyday, when that was all you could count on, or the value of gift to someone else, when that was all you had to give, or just the remembrance of those times when all this was true brought back by the smell and taste of a cup of coffee.