Cup of Life

"Are you suicidal?" the girl asks, sidling along the kitchen bench to where Micky stands, staring morosely into her chipped cup of offering to her caffeine addiction. Micky’s eyebrows contract, but her attention stays focused of the brown liquid on the bench. Micky exhales deeply, then takes a shot of coffee.
Morning ritual.
Add more poisons to drown the demons.

"It’s impolite to ignore somebody."
Reverie broken, Micky takes another shot of synapse-singeing bliss, before turning to look at the child. She doesn’t even know how this girl got inside this dingy caravan.
"What do you want, and who the hell are you?" Micky shoots at the girl, before shooting back yet another portion of her cup.
Ahhh, so bitter.
Every morning, again so bitter.

"Well, I can tell you’re addicted to caffeine. That stuff’ll kill you, ya know. I read in the paper just last week that somewhere there’s this frog problem, so these people are using pure caffeine spray on the frogs and it gives them a heart attack and they die, but then I wonder what the people do with the frogs, do you think they export them as cuisses de grenouilles to France, or are they too tainted for that..." Micky tunes out as the girl talks, only interested in the fact that the girl hasn’t yet stopped for a breath.
"...but I’ve concluded that coffee drinkers must be suicidal."
"It’s also impolite to ignore a question," Micky says to the girl, still wondering who this precocious child is, where it came from and when it’s going away.
"Jessi. I don’t want anything."
The girl’s playing tough now, not letting out more information than she has to, annoyed that Micky still hasn’t answered the question.
Social worker’s office, staring at the lady.
Not wanting to answer the questions.

Micky sighs. It’s too early for this.
"Not suicidal, just needing a cup."
"Need?" Jessi pounces for the kill. "A need is a sure sign of an addiction. Tell me, do you need the coffee for the kick-start, or to wash away the lingering after-taste of last night’s drunk?"
Micky’s cheeks flush slightly, and Jessi isn’t sure whether she’s provoked anger or if it’s the coffee.
His cheeks are a mosaic of broken blood vessels,
but this false flush pales in comparison to his red-hot anger.

"I don’t have to answer impertinent questions, young lady," Micky snaps, focusing once more on her cup. Jessi’s now sure she’s hit the mark - why else would the lady be angry? Maybe it’s time to back down, give a little leeway, or she’ll probably be in trouble. Last time she did this, the other lady complained to her Dad, and he got angry... so angry. Now’s not the time to think about that, though.
"Sorry."
Micky sighs, her breath making ripples on the surface of the coffee. She watches them as they shimmer, and disappear back into the rest of the liquid, wishing her problems could disappear with the ease of these lines. Especially the problem sitting on the bench, uninvited, swinging her sandaled feet in a rhythm only she knows.
Yet another night of hiding under the table.
Shaking.
Watching a foot go through the cupboard under the bench...

"Girl, you don’t want the answers, anyway."
Brown eyes blink at Micky.
"It’s not a question of wanting, more of needing. See, my addiction, my need, is information. Don’t you think I can handle what you’ve got?"
This girl’s smart. Annoying, but smart. Challenge delivered, Jessi stops kicking her feet and stares hard at Micky, willing her to back down, fail.
Same eyes, staring.
Worthless.
Useless.
Dumb.
Fail...

"You asked for it. Girl, Jessi, life’s like coffee. Smells, looks, seems to be sweet. That coffee shop smell? Reminds me of home, not that I wanted to be reminded of that place..."
Broken cup on the floor.
Again, under the table.
Watching coffee coalesce into a drip and fall...

Jessi nods slightly in understanding.
"...But coffee, it seems sweet at first, but really, it’s a bile. It’s got a bitter after-taste, bitter like a poison. Like life, where everything seems sweet, but ends up poisoning you, ends up bitter. Take my word for it girl, as bitter as it all is, once you start, you can’t stop. You become addicted to the poison, and the poison becomes addicted to you. It eats you up from the inside out, until you’re as bitter as the coffee."
Jessi’s brown eyes crease in an emotion that Micky can’t read. Not that she cares. Yet another corrupted soul to atone for now.
Alone at night.
Bottle singing her into a sleep.
Hopefully dreamless.

"Want to go feed the ducks?" Jessi jumps off the bench, and holds out her hand in invitation, smiling at Micky. Micky looks down at the girl, then pours the rest of the coffee in one long stream down the sink, watching it drain with a semi-relief.
"Yeah," Micky replies, taking the girl’s hand and being led outside.

They walk out into the bright sunshine, to feed the ducks on the pond of the nearby park, each thinking something different.

Micky looks down on the angel holding her hand, and sees herself. But this Micky is handling things differently.
Holding onto a hand, a friendly hand.
So young, but now so old.
So old, but now so young.
All alone, but with another of a similar soul.
Jessi’s thinking of the duck with an attitude problem that she wants to show Micky. Then she looks up at Micky’s face, shielding her eyes from the sun, and sees something there.
"Ya know," Jessi begins, "When dogs have bile, they almost choke on it, then they cough it up, out their mouths. Then they feel better..."

Notes: Based on the characters Michelina Bellsong and Lelani Klonk from the novel ‘One Door Away From Heaven’ by Dean Koontz. This was an experiment in using someone else's characters in a similar but different setting. The line
"Are you suicidal?"
is the first dialogue of Koontz's novel. Apologies to Mr Koontz...

La Copa De La Vida/The Cup Of Life is also the anthem of the last soccer world cup, and was sung by Ricky Martin. This song was written by Robi Rosa, Desmond Child and Luis Gomez Escolar:

Do you really want it? (Yeah!) x3

Go, go, go (Go, go, go)
Ale, ale, ale (Ale, ale, ale)
Go (Go)
Go (Go)
Go (Go)
Go (Go)
Here we go!

The cup of life,
This is the one.
Now is the time,
Don't ever stop.

Push it along,
Gotta be strong,
Push it along,
Right to the top.

Como Cain y Abel
Es un partido cruel
Tienes que pelear por una estrella
Consigue con honor
La copa del amor
Para sobrevivir y luchar por ella
Luchar por ella (Yeah!)
Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

Here we go!! Ale, ale, ale
Go, go, goal!! Ale, ale, ale
Arriba va!! El mundo esta de pie
Go, go, gol!! Ale, ale, ale

La vida es
Competicion
Hay que soñar
Ser campeon
La copa es
La bendicion
La ganaras
Go go go

And when you feel the heat,
The world is at your feet.
No one can hold you down
If you really want it!

Just steal your destiny
Right from the hands of fate.
Reach for the cup of life
'Cause your name is on it!
Do you really want it? (Yeah!)
Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

Tu y yo, Ale, ale, ale!
Go, go, gol! Ale, ale, ale!
Tonight's the night! We're gonna celebrate!
The cup of life! Ale, ale, ale!

Gotta go and get it.
Do you really want it?
Gotta go and get it.
Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

The cup of life,
This is the one.
Now is the time,
Don't ever stop.

Push it along,
Gotta be strong,
Push it along,
Right to the top.

Como Cain y Abel
Es un partido cruel
Tienes que pelear por una estrella
Consigue con honor
La copa del amor
Para sobrevivir y luchar por ella (SI!)
Luchar por ella (SI!)
Luchar por ella (Yeah!)
Do you really want it? (Yeah!)

Here we go! Ale, ale, ale!
Go, go, goal! Ale, ale, ale!
Tonight's the night! We're gonna celebrate!
The cup of life! Ale, ale, ale!

Un, dos, tres! Ole, ole, ole!
Un, deux, trois! Ale, ale, ale!
Arriba va!! El mundo esta de pie
Go, go, gol!! Ale, ale, ale!

Ale, ale (Ale, ale)
Ale, ale (Ale, ale)
Ale, ale (Ale, ale)
Ale, ale, ale!

Ale, ale (Ale, ale)
Ale, ale (Ale, ale)
Ale, ale (Ale, ale)
Ale, ale, ale!