Cookie delivery

“Cappuccino with a lot of milk and no sugar. But remember to put the design thing on top, and don’t forget the cookie.” Every week, you make the same order at a coffee shop, but you still don’t expect them to remember it. You mention all these details repeatedly, as if they are the most difficult things in the world. I mean, I always thought the cookie and the design were just something that was always on their coffee, without me having to ask for it. Yet maybe it was not. Maybe it was always there because you asked for it to be. Sometimes I ask for an extra cookie, and they give me two. So, is it about you?

Even on days where I do not walk in, I see you sitting here. I know you are not the owner of the place because the owner is someone I know. I know you do not work nearby because you never carry any kind of bag. So how is it that I see you there every morning? I wonder sometimes if I am just overthinking it. You were just someone who liked this café and came often. What I realized was that if you were not there, I would definitely be worried. And one day, you were not. I was surprised. I even asked the barista where you were, and she looked at me like I was crazy. I had no name, no relationship, just the order you made every time. When I sat back down, the barista brought something over to me. It was the order you used to make every day: “Is this what you are looking for?”

I did not think much; I just took the order and began drinking the coffee. It was quite terrible. The milk overpowered the coffee, and there was not any sugar to make up for it. On top of that, there was no design and no cookie either. I was appalled. I stood back up to walk up to the barista with my dissatisfaction, and that is when I saw you walk in with a box of cookies. It was not about the service or the coffee. You had just wanted to eat the cookies you picked out for yourself.

I had never picked up any special cookies and, in turn, never had the voice to ask for them.