Just Coffee
Jeanette Lorimer habitually started each day with a cup of coffee that she drank while sitting in a recliner in front of her bay window. But on the September morning that changed her life, she immediately brushed her teeth and hair and got dressed. At the end of the month, the retired secretary had an appointment to visit her doctor for a semiannual checkup. That meant she needed routine blood work done. Although she was not squeamish when it came to having blood drawn from her veins with a needle, the blood glucose test required her to fast for eight to ten hours. That meant no morning cup of coffee. Like many people, she felt she could not function properly until she had her caffeine fix.
It wasn't so bad when she lived in the city and the lab was a short walk from her apartment. However, once she quit working, Jeanette moved to a rural area; and since she grew up with access to mass transit, she never learned to drive a car. Thus, she had to first walk half a mile and then take two different buses to get to her destination.
Despite the forecast calling for warm weather, she put a cardigan sweater on over her blouse since it was always chilly in the mornings. Then she picked up her handbag and left the house, locking the door behind her. After walking to the corner of Main Street and Dogwood Road, she waited ten minutes for the bus to arrive. It was a thirty-minute ride to the station where she got a local bus to take her to the medical center.
As usual, the lab was crowded, but a well-mannered young man offered her his seat. Jeanette thanked him and picked up a magazine, a four-month-old issue of Woman's Day. She idly thumbed through the pages, looking for recipes. Twenty-five minutes later, her name was called.
"All right, Miss Lorimer. That's all we need," the lab technician announced as she placed the vials of blood into a metal rack.
"Good. Now I can go get a cup of coffee."
The technician smiled and replied, "That's what all the patients say."
To Jeanette's dismay, the medical center's coffee shop was still closed due to the recent pandemic.
"Do you have a coffee machine in the building?" she asked one of the center's many nurses.
"No. I'm afraid not," the woman replied. "But there are several coffee shops nearby. There's practically one on every corner. Starbucks, Dunkin', Pret A Manger, Au Bon Pain—take your pick."
Given the size of the sprawling medical building, it was not surprising that Jeanette took a wrong turn and wound up exiting through a different door than the one she entered through. Rather than worry about getting to the bus stop, her only thought was to find a coffee shop. She stood on the sidewalk and looked to the right and then to the left but saw only doctors' offices, pharmacies and medical supply companies.
So much for there being one on every block.
With her inner GPS system malfunctioning, she turned to the right, unaware that had she turned left, she would have come across the nearest Starbucks just one block away. Instead, she walked five blocks and found herself in an unfamiliar part of town. She was surrounded by high-rise buildings with names that offered no clue as to their purpose. Just as she was about to turn around and head back to the medical center, she spied a small building sandwiched between the seventeen-story Hyperion Plaza and the twenty-two-story Mikel Tower.
A smile came to her face when she read the sign above the door: Just Coffee.
"Amen!" she cried and hurried across the street.
As its name suggested, the shop did not sell food, not even cookies, pastries or muffins. It did, however, offer a wide variety of beverages: lattes, mochas, cappuccinos, espressos, Americanos, macchiatos, steamers, hot chocolates and regular coffee in several popular flavors. There was a separate menu for cold drinks that included frappés, iced coffees and cold brews. Jeanette was about to order a large cup of hazelnut coffee with milk and artificial sweetener when she saw a sign on the counter advertising the featured flavors. One, in particular, caught her eye: a chocolate chip frappé.
"I'll take one of those," she told the barista, opting for the frosty beverage.
"What size?" he asked.
"Make it a large. I haven't had any coffee yet this morning."
Jeanette took her drink to a nearby table. (Unlike Starbucks, there were no people with laptops hogging the seats to get access to free Wi-Fi.) She tore the paper off the straw, put the straw into the cold beverage and took a sip. She was instantly taken back to that day in her childhood when she was given her first cup of coffee. Her mother had bought a bag of Keebler Chips Deluxe cookies, and the little girl dipped each one into the coffee before eating it.
This is so good! she thought, closing her eyes as she savored the taste.
She took her time finishing the drink—some things should not be rushed. She even made a slurping sound as she sucked on the straw to get the last drop. (Etiquette be damned!) Before leaving Just Coffee in search of the bus stop, she bought another large chocolate chip frappé in a takeout cup to bring home with her.
* * *
Jeanette woke the following morning when the first rays of the rising sun peeked through her bedroom window. After making a cup of Maxwell House, she took it into the living room and sat down in her recliner. Placing her cup on the end table, she retrieved a puzzle book and pencil from out of the magazine rack and began working on a sudoku. Once two of the numbers were filled in, she reached for her Cinderella mug, a souvenir from a long-ago trip to Walt Disney World, and took a sip of coffee. The milk had not gone sour and she had not forgotten to put in the sweetener, yet she found the taste unsatisfying. A second sip did not change her opinion.
I wish I had one of those frappés like I had yesterday, she thought longingly.
The Cinderella mug was empty by the time she put the final number into the sudoku grid. She closed the puzzle book and put it and the pencil down. Then she picked up the dirty cup, took it to the kitchen and washed it. Normally, the caffeine would have put a bounce into her step, but not this time. As she headed for the bedroom to make her bed, she felt sluggish.
I hope I'm not coming down with something.
For three years, she had managed to avoid getting COVID. Could she have gotten the virus while in the city the previous day? Although she was vaccinated and received two boosters. She made a mental note to pick up a test kit when she went to the grocery store later in the day.
It was shortly after ten o'clock when she went back to the kitchen and poured herself a second cup of coffee. This was not part of her usual daily routine, but today she felt she needed an extra pick-me-up. Again, the taste was flat.
I wonder if coffee can go bad. Maybe I ought to pick up another can when I go out.
At half past eleven, a car pulled into her driveway. Nita Rampling, a widowed former high school English teacher who lived three blocks away, tooted the horn to announce her arrival. Jeanette grabbed her purse and ran out the door.
"Where do you want to eat today?" Nita asked as she backed down the driveway.
The two women went to lunch once a week before going to the grocery store to do their weekly food shopping. Within a twenty-five-mile radius, there were two diners, a McDonald's and a pizzeria, so the choices were limited. Since McDonald's was closest to Food Fair, that was the preferred option.
"I guess it's Big Macs and French fries."
As Jeanette waited in line to place her order, she looked at the McCafé items.
"Maybe I'll get a caramel latte instead of a Coke," she announced.
"Since when do you like those fancy coffees?" her friend asked.
An image of the chocolate chip frappé danced through Jeanette's mind and she replied, "Since I had the best drink I ever tasted yesterday morning."
"Did you go to Starbucks when you were in the city?"
"No. There was a little place near the medical center called Just Coffee. The frappé I had tasted like a chocolate chip milkshake. It was amazing!"
"Just Coffee? I never heard of it," Nita said, taking out her phone. "I wonder if it's a chain."
An Internet search produced no results.
"Where did you say this place was?"
"Near the medical center."
"I can't find it. What street is it on?"
"I'm not sure."
"According to Google, there's a cooperative in Wisconsin by that name but nothing else."
"Maybe the shop doesn't have a website," Jeanette suggested.
"It's possible," Nita said with a shrug of her shoulders.
Then the two women stepped up to the counter to place their order and Just Coffee was forgotten about for the time being.
* * *
After putting the dairy products in the refrigerator and the frozen foods in the freezer, Jeanette read the directions on the back of a frappé mix. She placed eight ounces of milk, one and a half cups of ice and the contents of the foil pouch into her blender. Once the mixture was smooth, she opened a package of Keebler Chips Deluxe, added three cookies to the drink and pressed the blend button again. After counting to ten, she poured the drink into a tall glass and sipped it.
"It's not nearly as good as the one I had yesterday," she pronounced, "but it's not bad."
She resealed the pack of chocolate chip cookies and took her frappé into the living room where she watched an old episode of Cold Case on the Roku channel. As she watched Detective Lilly Rush and her partner, Scotty Valens, solve a twenty-year-old homicide, her mind kept going back to the coffee shop by the medical center.
I have to go for my checkup next week. I can stop by Just Coffee when I do. Too bad there's not some way I can buy a gallon of frappé and bring it home.
The following morning, rather than take her coffee to the living room, she sat down at the kitchen table with her Cinderella mug and the package of Chips Deluxe cookies.
"This is just like when I was younger," she declared as she dunked a cookie into her coffee and then put it into her mouth.
As tasty as the coffee-soaked cookies were, though, they still did not compare with the frappé she bought at Just Coffee.
* * *
On the day of her doctor's appointment, Jeanette woke before dawn. Since she was not getting blood work done, she was able to have a morning cup of coffee. As she sat in her recliner with her mug and puzzle book, her eyes frequently went to the clock on the wall, keeping track of the time when she would have to leave her house. Although her appointment was not until ten, she wanted to catch the seven o'clock bus so that she could stop at Just Coffee first. To pass the time, she completed a crossword, three word searches and a fill-in puzzle. Finally, it was time to go.
When the local bus dropped her off in front of the medical center, she walked around the perimeter of the complex to the rear entrance.
"If memory serves me correctly, the coffee shop is this way," she said and retraced the steps she had taken on her previous visit.
Just as she began to question her navigating skills, she glimpsed the small building sandwiched between Hyperion Plaza and Mikel Tower.
"There it is!" she said, her mouth beginning to water in anticipation.
As on the previous occasion, there were few customers in the shop. Had the early morning crowd already come and gone, she wondered. Without bothering to look at the menu, she stepped up to the counter and ordered a large chocolate chip frappé.
"That'll be $4.50," the barista announced.
"What? It was only $3.75 two weeks ago."
"We've had to raise our prices. Blame it on inflation."
What's an extra seventy-five cents? Jeanette thought as she fished three more quarters out of her change purse.
She carried her drink to a table, sat down and took a sip. Nirvana! How was it possible that the drink tasted even better than she remembered?
After finishing the first, she looked at her watch, delighted that she had time for a second.
"I'll take this one to go," she told the barista. "I have a doctor's appointment at ten."
As the retired secretary entered the medical center's crowded lobby, she sucked the last of the frappé through the straw. She tossed the empty plastic cup into the trash before getting onto the elevator. By the time the car stopped on the eleventh floor, she wanted another one.
"The doctor will be right with you," the receptionist announced when the patient added her name to the sign-in sheet.
Jeanette took a seat in the waiting room and struck up a conversation with another of the doctor's patients.
"It's hard to believe it'll be October next week," she said.
"The older I get, the quicker time seems to pass," the other woman declared.
"I know what you mean. It seems like I was just looking forward to spring, and now fall is almost here."
"I like the autumn. It's the winter I hate. How I envy all those people who escape the cold and snow by heading down to Florida! Me, I remain cooped up in the house from December until March. Talk about cabin fever!"
It suddenly occurred to Jeanette that she had no reason to visit the city before her next checkup in the spring. Could she go six months without a frappé?
A young nurse stepped into the waiting room and called out her name.
"Miss Lorimer? The doctor will see you now."
Good! I can get this physical over with and return to Just Coffee for one last frappé—or maybe two.
* * *
Five days had gone by since her doctor's appointment, and Jeanette felt like an addict in need of a fix. Finally, she gave in. She got on the bus and went into the city for the sole purpose of visiting Just Coffee.
"I'd like a large chocolate chip frappé," she told the barista.
"I'm sorry, but that was last month's feature flavor. We no longer serve it."
Disappointed, Jeanette looked at the sign announcing the new featured flavors: pumpkin spice latte and speculoos frappé.
"What is speculoos?" she asked.
"Have you ever had a Biscoff cookie or tasted cookie butter?"
"No. I don't think so."
"Well, anyway, that's what speculoos is; it's like a spiced shortbread."
"I'll try the featured frappé, but make it a small one since I don't know if I'll like it."
"That'll be $4.50."
"I said I want the small size."
"That's the price of the small," the barista explained. "We had to raise our prices."
"Again? You just raised them the last time I was here."
"Sorry, but everything is going up. Have you seen the price of eggs lately?"
Jeanette took her drink to a nearby table, put a straw into it and sipped. Like the featured flavor for September, the one for October made her feel as though she were drinking ambrosia sent down from Mount Olympus. Surely, no mortal could have created such an exquisite beverage!
"I'll have another one," she said after finishing the first. "But this time, make it a large."
"That'll be $5.25."
Jeanette did not even question the price. She would have handed over the entire contents of her wallet for another frappé.
* * *
Nita Rampling removed the wrapper from her Quarter Pounder and announced, "I went to Five Guys the other day. Did you know their hamburger now costs $10.29, and the single patty costs $7.79?"
"No. I didn't. Honestly, I can't remember the last time I ate there."
"I had to go into the city, so I decided to have something other than McDonald's. By the way, I tried to find that coffee shop you told me about."
"Just Coffee?"
"Yeah. You said it was near the medical center, but I couldn't find it. I asked several people, but no one had ever heard of the place."
"It's easy to miss. It's a small building that appears to be hiding between two tall ones."
"Maybe I couldn't find it because it went out of business."
"I was just there yesterday."
"Oh? Did you have another doctor's appointment?" Nita asked, worried about her friend's health.
"No. I just wanted to have a frappé."
"You went into the city just to get coffee?"
"It's not just coffee—despite the name," Jeanette laughed. "Having a frappé there is like a ... a religious experience."
"Oh, come off it!" the retired English teacher scoffed. "It may taste good, but it's still just coffee."
"That's easy for you to say. You've never tasted their speculoos frappé."
"Speculoos? I thought you were crazy about their chocolate chip drink?"
"They change the featured flavors each month."
After finishing their lunch, the two women went to Food Fair to shop for groceries. This time, rather than pick up a package of Keebler Chips Deluxe, Jeanette bought a box of Lotus Biscoff cookies. If she couldn't have a Just Coffee frappé, she could at least dunk the cookies in her morning cup of Maxwell House.
* * *
Like a drug-addicted junkie, Jeanette's cravings got worse. Sadly, she lacked the willpower to resist them. By the middle of October, she was taking the bus into the city once a week and ordering three or four large frappés time. For a retiree, this was problematic. The bus fares alone were costly, but to make matters worse, Just Coffee raised their prices again.
"Are you on a diet?" Nita asked when Jeanette ordered a small burger, with no fries or drink.
"No. I'm just trying to save money."
"I don't want to intrude, but is everything all right?"
"Yes. But being on a fixed income, I have to decide how to best allocate my money. I'd rather spend it at Just Coffee than McDonald's."
"How often do you go there?"
"Not often enough!" Jeanette declared with a frown.
Nita wisely changed the subject.
* * *
The first of November brought new featured flavors to Just Coffee as well as another price increase. The hot drink for the month was peppermint mocha, and the cold was caramel apple frappé. Never doubting that she would like the flavor, Jeanette stepped up to the counter and ordered a large. She was not disappointed.
This is like drinking apple pie!
Having frequented the establishment since the middle of September, she considered herself a regular customer. She knew the barista by name: Axelrod. She did not think it odd that the young man was the only employee at the shop. Nor did she wonder anymore about the scarcity of other customers. In fact, nothing seemed to matter to Jeanette except satisfying her craving. By the end of the month, she was going into the city three times a week.
When Axelrod informed her that the price of a large frappé had gone up to $10.29, she did a quick mental calculation. Three frappés times, say, ten dollars each is thirty dollars a day. Times three days a week is ninety dollars. That amounted to three hundred and sixty dollars a month.
And that's not counting the bus fare to and from the city!
It was time to make a painful decision. Would she cut back on the number of trips she made or limit the number of drinks she bought each time?
After careful consideration, Jeanette did neither. Instead, she eliminated all nonessential expenditures from her budget: cable television, Netflix, magazine subscriptions, Internet service, snack foods and her weekly lottery tickets.
* * *
"Good morning, Axelrod," Jeanette called when she entered Just Coffee on the first day of December.
"Morning, Miss Lorimer," he replied.
"I told you to call me Jeanette."
"What are you doing here on a Thursday, Jeanette? You're on a Monday, Wednesday and Friday schedule. Did you make a special trip here to try our new featured flavor?"
"What is it?"
"Eggnog—nonalcoholic."
"Sounds good. I'll take one."
"Large?"
"Of course."
She sat at a table near the artificial Christmas tree. Seeing the twinkling lights made her wonder how long she could afford to pay her electric bill now that she had decided to come to the city four days a week.
If I limit myself to only two drinks a visit, it wouldn't be too costly.
The question was, could she stop at two?
I'm like an alcoholic, she realized. I can't control my drinking!
"I don't suppose there's a Frappé Drinkers Anonymous for people like me," she jokingly called to Axelrod.
"None that I've ever heard of," the barista laughed.
After her fourth frappé—maybe she would cut down to two on her next visit—she caught the bus to take her back home. As she neared her house, Jeanette saw Nita's Subaru parked in the driveway.
"There you are!" her friend exclaimed with relief. "I've been trying to get in touch with you!"
"Why?"
"It's Thursday. Aren't we going to lunch and then grocery shopping?"
"Silly me! I forgot what day it was."
"Where were you?"
"I went into the city."
"Not to that coffee shop again?"
"Yes. Why? What's it to you?"
Nita was taken aback by her friend's belligerent attitude.
"Please don't get mad ...."
"Then stop bothering me! If I want your advice, I'll ask for it."
Jeanette then went inside her home and slammed the door in her friend's face. Whatever groceries she needed she would have delivered to her house.
* * *
The following morning, Jeanette was up before sunrise. She quickly got dressed and set out for the bus stop.
"You're here early," Axelrod observed when she entered the coffee shop.
"I'll have my usual," she announced.
"That'll be $12.49."
Another price hike! What else is new?
After her third frappé, the retired secretary was out of cash. Thankfully, Just Coffee accepted credit cards.
"Can I run a tab, like they do at the bars?" she asked.
"No," Axelrod answered. "But I can charge you for as many coffees as you want in advance and then make them for you when you want them."
"Sounds good! Ring up six large ones for me."
"But you've already had three."
"So? Are you running out?"
"No."
By noon, she finished all six.
"Nine frappés in one day," Axelrod laughed. "That must be some kind of a record."
"And I'm still going," Jeanette said. "Ring up another six for me."
"It's lunchtime. Don't you want to have something to eat?"
"Did you start serving food here?" she asked.
"No, still just coffee."
"Then, if it's all the same to you, I'll drink my lunch."
The barista charged her Visa card another $74.94 and prepared the frappé. The customer finished it in under ten minutes. After a quick trip to the ladies' room, she asked for another. What followed could only be described as a coffee binge. Two more times, Jeanette produced her card to order another half dozen drinks. The third time she tried to do so, Axelrod notified her that the card had been declined.
"Try running it again."
"I did. It's not going through."
"I don't see why not."
"It usually means you've maxed your card out," Axelrod explained.
Jeanette had charged her groceries and other purchases on the card for the past two months and had not made a payment, so it was entirely possible she reached her limit.
"What if I order just three frappés instead of six?"
The barista tried charging $37.47 to the card.
"Sorry."
"What about one?"
Again, the transaction failed.
Jeanette was out of cash, and her credit card was declined. Faced with the prospect of no more frappés, she felt panic rise in her.
"I'll have to find some way to get $12.49!" she cried.
"You can come back tomorrow if you do."
"Tomorrow?"
"We close at eight. It's half past seven now."
This was indeed a predicament. Not only did she not have the money for another drink, but she lacked the bus fare to return home.
"Thirty minutes? I'll be back before then," she announced and left the coffee shop.
* * *
Jeanette ran to the nearest ATM, which was two blocks away. She inserted her debit card in the appropriate slot and typed in her PIN number. Since the balance on her account was below twenty dollars, she was not allowed to make a withdrawal.
"No!" she cried. "I've got almost seventeen dollars in the bank. That's more than enough to buy another eggnog frappé."
Desperate, she began asking strangers for money.
"I just need enough for bus fare," she lied.
She had managed to get close to ten dollars in singles and change before the building's security guard stopped her.
"I'm sorry, Ma'am, but we don't allow soliciting or panhandling on the premises."
"I just need a few more dollars. Please!"
Shoulders slumped and head down, Jeanette turned toward the exit. Then she saw the fountain that stood in the center of the lobby. The bottom was covered with quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies—all donations to fight childhood leukemia. She shamelessly ran to the fountain, plunged both her hands into the cold water and pulled out fistfuls of coins.
"Stop it!" the security guard yelled.
She put the wet change into her coat pockets and fished for more, unaware that the guard had called 911 on his cell phone. It was not the police siren that frightened her; it was the clock chimes that signaled the time. It was 7:45.
"The coffee shop will close in fifteen minutes."
As she ran out the door—her hands and sleeves dripping water with each step—the squad car pulled to a stop, and uniformed policemen stepped out.
"That's her," the security guard called to them.
Jeanette never slackened her pace, not even when Officer Cyrano Grandison commanded her to stop. The elderly woman was out of breath when she saw Hyperion Plaza ahead of her. The lights were still on in the small coffee shop beside it.
"I ... made ... it!" she panted, struggling for breath.
"Hold it right there, Ma'am!" Grandison yelled.
She could almost taste the eggnog frappé! Suddenly, a sharp pain gripped her chest. A moment later, the lights in the coffee shop went out.
"No!"
"Are you all right, Ma'am?" Cyrano asked when he and his partner reached her side.
All the poor woman could manage to utter was a pathetic moan.
"Shes having a heart attack," Officer Julio Herrera surmised. "Let's get her to the emergency room."
As the old woman pulled away, her eyes went to the dark space between Hyperion Plaza and Mikel Tower.
What have I done? she wondered, able to think clearly for the first time in several months.
Her eyes fluttered and closed for the final time.
It was just coffee, Jeanette thought as her life tragically came to an end.
* * *
Three days into the new year, Officers Cyrano Grandison and Julio Herrera were routinely patrolling the area around the medical center. As they neared the corner where the elderly woman had died the previous month, Cyrano spied a small building sandwiched between Hyperion Plaza and Mikel Tower.
"I never knew there was a coffee shop there," he said. "Why don't you pull over? I'll buy us both a cup."
When they walked into the shop, Cyrano read the sign announcing the featured flavors: amaretto coffee and pecan pie frappé.
"Their prices aren't bad," he said. "Only $3.75 for a large frappé. Starbucks charges $4.95 for its Venti Frappuccino."
"I'll just have a regular coffee with cream and no sugar," Julio said.
"Come on! Live a little."
"No, thanks."
Cyrano stepped up to the counter and placed the order.
"I'll take one coffee with cream and no sugar and a large pecan pie frappé."
"Coming right up," Axelrod said after handing the officer his change.
"This is amazing!" Grandison declared after taking a sip of his drink. "You really ought to try it! It tastes just like pecan pie."
"Those drinks are loaded with calories."
"You don't know what you're missing!"
"It's just coffee," Herrera contended.
Julio's words fell on deaf ears. His partner was already thinking about returning to the coffee shop after he went off duty and ordering another frappé.
"Have a good day, officers," the barista called when the two policemen headed for the exit.
"I'll be back," Cyrano Grandison declared.
I don't doubt it, Axelrod thought with a devilish grin.
I vacationed in New Zealand this month (3/23). While in Christchurch, I went to a coffee shop where I ordered a Biscoff frappé It was delicious! I wish they sold it here in the U.S. (Maybe Starbucks can get the recipe!)
Whenever Salem goes to McDonald's he orders a frappé. His favorite flavor was—what else?—the Godiva espresso.
