“To begin... To begin... How to start? I'm hungry. I should get coffee. Coffee would help me think. Maybe I should write something first, then reward myself with coffee. Coffee and a muffin. Okay, so I need to establish the themes. Maybe a banana-nut. That's a good muffin.”

“So, she tells me, the words dribbling out with the cranberry muffin crumbs, commas dunked in her coffee.”

“You wanna-I dunno-get coffee or something sometime?"Justin smiled "Not coffee. But yes.""Not Coffee it is, then.""Yes, Not Coffee.”

“Should I kill myself, or have a cup of coffee?”

“So when some refer to Starbucks' coffee as an affordable luxury, I think to myself, Maybe so. But more accurate, I like to think, is that the starbucks experience - personal connection- is an affordable necessity. We are all hungry for community.”

“Wait!"What?" I lowered my cup hastily, wondering if maybe there was a stray hair, or worse, a newly boiled bug inside my cup.You got to smell it first. It's the proper way to cup coffee."Cup coffee?"Taste it."What? Are you the coffee police or something?”