Tea Cup

I worked at Common Grounds Coffeehouse in the Highlands as a barista for several years in the mid-90s while I was studying for my initial teaching license. I didn't really want to be an elementary school art teacher at the time--I was perfectly happy brewing coffee, making lattes, doing the Times crossword, and chatting with the regulars. Now that I'm three decades into a career in education, I look back on that job with longing. Part of me would have been perfectly happy to never leave the place.

This story is set at Common Grounds. It's about self-care, or, before we called it that, simply escape. Would you escape into the past, if you could? Or into nothingness?

TEA CUP was awarded an Honorable Mention in Gemini's Flash Fiction Contest in the fall of 2018.