Oliver and Lucas had been neighbors and friends since childhood. They both shared a passion for coffee, which they drank every morning to start the day with energy.
However, one day they learned that there was a coffee shortage in the country and that there was only one bag of coffee left in a supermarket in town. The two looked at each other with determination and rushed off to the supermarket, ready to get the last bag of coffee.
The race was intense and exciting. Oliver and Lucas took turns going ahead and falling behind, dodging obstacles, and dodging passersby.
Oliver was faster, but Lucas was smarter. Oliver took a shortcut through an alley but slipped on a banana peel that Lucas had thrown behind him. Lucas crossed an avenue and as he reached the pavement he felt an impact. It had been a rock Oliver had thrown at him.
And so they went on, playing mischief with each other in order to prevent their opponent from reaching the supermarket.
Upon arrival, the two entered the supermarket like lightning and headed for the aisle where the coffee was located. There they encountered a problem: the last bag of coffee was on top of a shelf, out of their reach.
The two looked at each other in frustration and started looking for something to climb with. Oliver saw a ladder, but Lucas took it out of his hands before he could use it. Oliver reacted and took it from him as well and in that trance, the ladder was damaged.
Lucas spotted a shopping cart, but Oliver snatched it from him before he could climb in. The two engaged in a fight over the items, while the bag of coffee remained unreachable.
In the midst of the commotion, a supermarket employee appeared, who saw them with surprise and anger. He shouted at them to put that back and get out of there. Oliver and Lucas froze.
The employee approached them and reproached them for their behavior. He asked them if they didn't know there was a coffee shortage in the country. Oliver and Lucas nodded their heads in embarrassment. The employee then asked them why they were fighting over the last bag of coffee. Why they weren't sharing it? Oliver and Lucas shrugged, not knowing what to say.
The employee looked at them with disbelief, and then with compassion. He realized that they were coffee lovers and could not live without it.
Then he had an idea. He proposed a more civilized way of deciding who would get the last bag of coffee: a game of rock, paper, scissors.
Oliver and Lucas looked at each other with surprise, then acceptance. It was a fair and simple proposition. They nodded and prepared to play.
The employee acted as referee and told them to show their hands on the count of three. The winner got a bag of coffee.
Oliver and Lucas nodded again and placed their hands behind their backs to begin the competition.
The employee counted to three.
Oliver showed stone. Lucas showed paper.
The employee announced that Lucas had won.
Lucas jumped for joy, and Oliver was sad.
But when the employee goes to hand Lucas the bag of coffee, everyone was surprised; the coffee was gone.
Another employee, from across the aisle, had reached across the aisle for the last bag of coffee and handed it to a little old lady who wanted to buy it.
Lucas and Oliver watched as the old lady walked happily towards the cashier to pay for her bag of coffee. They felt like crying. They felt defeated and decided they should go home.
Just as they crossed the supermarket entrance to head home, the clerk who had scolded them yelled at them to stop. The two boys wondered what they had done now.
The employee told them to look to their right. There was a huge truck of the best coffee in the country and it had arrived with many bags of coffee.
The coffee shortage was over and Oliver and Lucas jumped for joy.
When Oliver and Lucas were paying for their coffee, they saw that the amount they were being charged was very high and they both shouted out why they were being charged so much for their coffee.
The employee told him that the broken ladder someone had to pay for it and who was better than those who damaged it.
The country shone again thanks to coffee.
Original content is written exclusively for #STB COFFEE PROMPT (WEEK 42)
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All rights reserved. © Copyright 2023 Germán Andrade G.
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