No Coffee?

by Allie Billings

Our home-room fiddle teacher walked through the cafeteria door and everyone at our table waved to him, though we decided not to say much as he turned his head to look at us with reddened eyes and pursed mouth. That's one thing fiddle camp does to everyone - makes them a bit insane for lack of sleep. Funny how we all keep coming back. Danny continued to fumble his way over the coffee counter on the other side of the cafeteria, Camden trailing him for his second cup of coffee. Our teacher jutted his chin out, trying to focus on the coffee cups, and realized that he was in the soda section of the drink wall. He sidestepped, running into a few people and apologizing profusely. Once again, he went through the two minute routine of looking for the coffee cups, jutting his chin out and squinting his eyes. He picked one up finally, but ran his fingers on the inside of the cup and decided that it wasn't fit to drink out of. Neither was the next. Or the next.
This went on.
And Camden was standing behind him, pondering the complications of life in the morning and waiting for his turn at the coffee counter.
Danny opened the spigot to pour his coffee, and one last time, realized that the cup he held in his hand was not washed correctly (he's just paranoid - they were fine) and so he put it back and reached for his seventh cup.
"There's this little bit of grundge on the sides of the cups, see?" he said, turning to Camden to show him. Camden smiled his "whatever you say" smile and nodded his head, but kept watching the coffee run out of the cantine.. onto the drink counter.. onto Danny's leg.. and finally to the floor.
"Um, Danny - the coffee, it's-"
"Oh. Oh, my. Oh, no. This is terrible. There's none left." Danny looked like he was going to cry. He aggrievedly put his cup back onto the counter, a bit remorseful that he'd spent all that time trying to FIND one in the first place, and meandered away listlessly.
Camden, raising an eyebrow at his teacher's not-totally-awake-state, stepped up to the coffee spout, tipped up the container, filled his cup, and bounced off to relocate the sugar and creamer.