Two Coffees, Please.

This weeks homework was to write about a parent and

child who were separated at birth. What happens when

they meet again for the first time?

Two Coffees, please.

This is a story about a man.

About a man, and a little girl.

This is a story about a little girl, who grows up.

This is a story about a man, and a woman.

And the woman was his child.

He never intended to leave her it never was his plan

He wanted to be a good Father, not like his old man.

Sometimes life just does that, it fills you up with doubt

You never want it to happen, but that’s how it works out.

Many years later he awoke in his bed

A needle sharp thought like an arrow to the head.

It lodged in his brain and would not let go

It stuck in a place that we all know

as the temporal lobe, just behind your left ear.

Where memory lingers, and thoughts become clear.

He thought of her face, remembered her smile

The sound of her laughter, it had been a long while.

The wisp of a memory that might not be real

it might be an echo, of the way he should feel.

Desire took hold, like a hook in his brain

Once it took hold he was never the same.

The parasite grew and became so big

The past consumed him and he started to dig.

It took him three years, five months and two days.

They met in a coffee shop the crossing of ways

A tentative ‘hello’ and an outstretched hand

Music in the background, some old ‘80’s band.

“Hello, Anna. I’m your Father, Salvatore’

Anna searched his face, looking for his story.

Scrutinizing every feature and to her surprise

saw something of herself mirrored in his eyes.

Shyly at first she reaches out- a formal shake.

He wraps two hands around hers afraid that she’ll break

a rush of unexpected feeling he cannot name

Starts in his fingers but then to his shame

he’s full of emotion and holds back the tears

how much has he missed, how many years?

This woman- no baby -left so long ago,

When he was much younger and days were slow.

When the world was a once a much kinder place.

Now here sits a stranger with his lover’s face.

An overwhelming rush of sadness, speeding up like a truck

running him over; devastation, feelings scattered amok.

Anna’s eyes on his face, she was sure he was able

To hear her heart pounding from across the table.

A waitress approached, and put down the water

“Anything else, Sir?”

“Two coffees, please. One for me, and one for my daughter”