Bitchin' Baristas: On Another Winter Morning.....

Before I begin I have to give the credit for the idea of this blog entry to one of my most inspirational teachers Patricia Ann McNair from the Interlochen writers retreat I attended in 2009. She teaches writing at Columbus College in Chicago and has just recently published a terrific book full of short stories entitled: "The Temple of Air." She has been posting journal prompts on her blog daily...I have decided to use these prompts, which were probably intended for personal journal uses, twist them around and use them as a way to look more deeply inside the Bitchin' Baristas.

The first prompt starts...On another winter morning....

Ella: On another winter morning Cliff would be walking in the snow with me. I never really bothered to ask him if he liked the snow or not and I'm not sure I would've gotten a straight answer anyway. He would've said that he liked to do whatever I liked to do. He once walked three miles in knee deep snow with me without making a fuss. Now, as I try to sop up the milk I had spilled all over my shirt, I watch Gabe-formely known to the other baristas as 6-Shot-Mocha-Latte-Guy swinging his new girlfriend around in the parking lot. She was so pretty, so petite and the two of them were smiling ear to ear. It is hard to believe that only 3 months ago his first marriage had ended. How did he get happy again so fast? How could I....?

Cindy: On another winter morning...if I wasn't still in bed... I would be driving Boring-Vanilla-Latte-Guy crazy as I flipped my hair and bent over so slightly to wipe down the tables, but for some reason predictable Boring-Vanilla-Latte-Guy didn't show up today and so I am forced to work with Pompous-Green-Tea-Man. The thought makes me throw-up in my mouth a little bit because Pompous-Green-Tea-Man spends his day here playing stocks on his computer, so he probably has a lot of money and yet he still wears dorky shorts and socks with his flip flops. I can just imagine he would keep his socks on and pulled up passed his ankles like that as we climbed into his bed, but no matter its worth a shot anyway...poor Boring-Vanilla-Latte-Guy he just doesn't know what he's going to miss.

Tiffany: On another winter morning the snow and ice may have been the most sparkliest thing in the world, but not this morning. This morning the most eye catching 2 karat sparkle is on my finger. I could barely stand to get out of his bed this morning after the night we had, but I have not escaped the daily grind just yet. Though I really should have been paying more attention to the grinds themselves because today as I ground the coffee beans they overflowed from the filter and right into where the diamond was set. Oh well, as soon as Penny and Rich leave I will simply use the milk wand to steam clean the ring and make sure it keeps shining as I punch the screen of the cash register.

Kay: On another winter morning I may have seen something besides splattered blood patterns in the snow. I may have seen red ribbons and sashes contrasting with the blanket of whiteness. There may have been flecks of silver and sparkles as bells rang in the distance. I would not be sitting here poking my finger with a needle in order to get the stimulation needed to forget the pain. The pain I cannot even bare to slap down on a page and call a poem. On another winter morning poems would not need to be called poems but instead they would be called vows. A winter morning is how I always pictured it anyway. I would not be sitting here freezing on a windowsill because I'm trying to freeze out the world and I would not be drawing patterns in the snow with my own blood just because I think it's pretty.

As always I am interested in your reactions and feedback!