I recommend when you get to the part about Jon taking a sip of coffee, play this music. It is what I listened to when I wrote this. into the song at 3:19 it goes into this fast almost metal version. it can be jarring if you don't expect it and that is where i stopped. Just FYI. anyway, enjoy the story!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4HfzwgUbcw
It was the beginning of September
and Jon rolled out of bed. It was the kind of morning were he didn’t even
bother landing on his feet. Jon opened his eyes, let out an annoyed sigh that
he was awake and then rolled his body to the edge of the bed, then let gravity
take over. Jon fell to the ground in a heap of sheets and didn’t bother moving
right away. He stayed there for about ten seconds before stirring.
The birds chirped happily outside
and the air conditioner hummed quietly in the next room. Jon slowly got to his
feet, picked his sheets off of the floor and then threw them against the wall.
The sheets hit the wall and landed on the bed in a messy pile.
For the last four months it had
been summer. Heat day in and day out. Jon hated it. He hated the heat and the
only thing he hated more than summer, was the people who loved the summer.
School and college were over and Jon had a job now. Summer meant nothing to him
except scorching weather, sweating, and feeling nauseous every day he had to
spend in the direct sunlight. His pale skin burned and he got heat stroke very
easily. He had to wear a hat all the time and carry a water bottle. He was not
made to live like this. He was made to live somewhere cloudy and cool. Where
the rain refreshes your spirit and the occasional sunshine is welcomed and not
scorned.
Jon ate breakfast and dressed for
work. He moved sluggishly up to the door, slowly opened it, then suddenly a
burst of cool air hit him. It wasn’t chilly autumn air, but it was the first
relief he had in months. Jon took a deep breath in and suddenly his blood
started to pump again. Instead of blood moving sluggishly through his veins, it
woke right up and surged through him. delivery oxygen and all the wonderful
brain chemicals that we all enjoy.
Jon smiled for the first time in
months and walked happily to his car. The trees were still green, but there was
a slight overcast and the air was almost too cold for his short-sleeved work
shirt. He got into his car and sped off down the road. He listened to his
calming “autumn mix” CD. He found that chilly weather always put him in the
mood to listen to slow music. Jon drove down the road toward his work, but
decided to make a stop. He pulled into the parking lot of his ‘local’ big
business chain coffee shops and strode into the store with a renewed sense of
purpose. The line consisted of men and women of different ages all dressed in
nice work clothes with faces that fit better at a funeral than a coffee shop.
Jon was the only one smiling and everyone kept their distance. Because surely
anyone that’s happy is truly insane, surely. So Jon waits his turn, he looks at
the board to pass the time but doesn’t bother reading it. He knows exactly what
he wants, a fresh hot pumpkin coffee to kick off the season. This location
would have the privilege of serving his first cup, the first of many cups.
When it was his turn, Jon walked up
to the lady at the counter and said “one pumpkin coffee please” He said this
with a smile as he stood tall. The woman, who looked to be in her twenties,
gave a tired, vacant look as a reply. “It sucks having my favorite flavor be a
seasonal one” Jon said nervously as the cashier stared at him. The girl
eventually said “We don’t have pumpkin. It’s not even on the board. Who even
serves…” The woman said in a condescending tone, but was interrupted when Jon
slammed his hands down on the counter. “September is autumn! Don’t give me
shit!” Jon said angrily then regained his senses and left. He was tired of
being treated like a weirdo for ordering pumpkin drinks as soon as summer
ended. If Beer were season you bet people would be even more fanatical than he was
about pumpkin. Jon also knew from experience that companies put pumpkin flavors
out immediately to start the season as soon as they can and make lots of money
on their seasonal flavors. Jon knew it was to make money, but he didn’t care.
If he got the flavor he wanted, he didn’t mind spending upwards of four bucks
for a cup.
Luckily coffee shops plagued the
streets and spread out like a virus, a delicious virus. Jon drove ten feet and
pulled into the next coffee shop. He waited in line and ordered a coffee, his
good mood had waned slightly. “one pumpkin coffee please” Jon said, sounding
more like the coffee zombies behind him than he cared to. “Sure here you go,
honey” Said the cashier. This cashier was a woman in her forties who knew the
coffee shop front and back. She was always friendly and helpful. So much so
that if they didn’t have pumpkin flavor, this woman would know when exactly
they would get it. Jon might have had a crush on her for that very reason.
“Bless you, you are a constant ray of light in the morning” Jon said to her. He
wasn’t flirting. Jon and the Cashier knew each other because Jon always stopped
in for coffee. The first coffee shop girl should have known him too, but people
in their early twenties don’t know what customer service is or what it sounds
like. Jon was twenty-six, but disliked working with anyone under thirty. People
in Jon’s age ground and younger seemed to just do the bare minimum, which made
dealing with them a chore.
Jon pushed aside his inner
monologue and walked swiftly to the car with his prize in hand. “Oh the things
I am going to do to you!” Jon said excitedly. The absurd statement made him
laugh. The older gentleman walking passed Jon just shook his head.
Jon got into his car and took his
first sip. Sweetness and spice hit his tongue and his brain lit up like a
Jack-o-lantern. Little red, yellow and orange autumn leaves floated around
Jon’s head as he swallowed his first sip, then put his head back and let out a
long satisfied sigh. The leaves danced as if being swept around by a tiny
breeze and the colors glowed faintly as the leaves moved. The world seemed
perfect for a moment.
The world did not change, but Jon’s
imagination took over. Through his left eye he saw the fantasy and the dreams,
through his right was the reality. He drove down the street. Green trees turned
gold, bushes lit up with red and orange like they were on fire. Leaves floated
through the air, drifting lightly on delicate a delicate breeze. The world
seemed right and the air was fresh. All at once Jon could see Halloween on the
horizon, pumpkins dotted the landscape but soon transformed into
Jack-o-lanterns as the night sky rose up, covering the morning sun. Jon
continued to drive. He could see trick-or-treaters running along the
neighborhood wearing costumes and giggling frantically as they chased each
other. He saw a beautiful afternoon of thanksgiving with his family and
football to watch as he fell into a turkey coma. He saw a line up of delicious
food that only Fall could provide. He saw it all in front of him, ready for the
best part of the year. It was all right there for the taking. It might have
only been September first, but time passes quicker than people realize.
Tomorrow there will be autumn leaves and the next day there will be pumpkin
flavored everything, feasts, and laughing, family and cool weather. This is why
Jon loved fall, this is why he loved pumpkin coffee, not just the taste but the
feeling. It meant so much to him, it was insulting to think of it as only
“seasonal”. Seasonal was such a sterile word, so plain. It didn’t ring out with
the million images that buzzed through his mind as the caffeine surged through
his veins.
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