Everything good happens after coffee.

She had tried everything, but she was about to give up. Claudia entered the cafeteria of Mr. Fermin, her lifelong neighbor, where for years every morning she had a cup of freshly brewed coffee before going to work. But that day it was later than usual, Claudia was disheveled, wet, haggard and a little dirty, Mr. Fermín was astonished to see her.

She was greeted by Mrs. Maria, Fermin's wife:

-Honey, what happened to you? Sit down here," the kind woman told her as she pulled up a chair, "we were expecting you in the morning, but since you didn't come for your usual coffee, we thought you were at work.

-I've had the worst day of my life Mrs. Maria - Claudia answered with a tired voice, on the verge of crying -everything has gone wrong and the day is not over yet, the worst is yet to come.

-Don't be like that my girl - replied Maria with a tender and maternalistic tone of voice - Fermin prepare a strong coffee for this poor girl.

Claudia held her head as if she could not keep it on her neck, Mrs. Maria looked at her questioningly as she could not understand her sorrow.

-You see, Mrs. Maria, I will explain you everything that happened to me today - Claudia said while breathing deeply - The first thing you should know is that in a couple of hours I have to present my innovative sales proposal to my boss, so I got ready to do it very early in the morning. I wanted to have everything ready, so that nothing would spoil my presentation, but this morning when I went outside, I realized that I had left the written proposal and the slides on the desk. When I looked in my wallet for the keys to the door to get my things, I also noticed that I had taken the wrong wallet, now I was in the street with no money, no cell phone, no keys.

-And what did you do, honey? - asked Mrs. Maria with concern.

-That's where my odyssey really begins - Claudia continued - first I tried to force the door, I also tried to open it with my credit card, like in the movies, but it didn't work. I remembered that once something like this had happened to a cousin and he was able to enter his house by jumping over the back wall. I tried to do it, but I fell, tore my new pants and my hair ended up a mess. So I walked to the nearest locksmith, but they weren't working today because the owner has a sick mother.

-The nearest locksmith is about twenty minutes away honey, you must be tired - Maria added.

-At that moment I remembered that my friend Coqui is also good at opening doors, so I walked to his house, his mother attended me and told me that Coqui was on a trip, that he would be back in a couple of days - the more the story went on, the more desperate Claudia sounded.

Fermín listened to the story while he prepared the coffee, and they both looked at poor Claudia with some pity.

-And what did you do then?

-I walked back to the house, but at that moment it started to rain and I had to take shelter at the bus stop. I was there for almost an hour, but the rain didn't stop, when I saw that it was getting late I decided to walk even if I got soaked, everything else was bad enough - this last part was told by Claudia without being able to hold back her tears.

She felt Mr. Fermin's hand on her shoulder, when she looked at him he was bringing a cup of steaming coffee, Claudia received it and took the first sip, she felt that glorious drink running down her throat, it seemed to her that time stopped and that at that moment things were not so bad.

-The first thing you should have done was to come and get your cup of coffee, honey, life is easier after a good freshly ground coffee - said Mrs. Maria smiling.

-Our son is a locksmith my dear - continued Mr. Fermin looking at her tenderly - at the moment he is not working in that field, but he has always been the best. I'll tell him right now to go and open the door for you.

-You still have time to change, get your things and make the presentation, sweetheart. You'll see how everything will be all right in no time - said Mrs. Maria.

As she walked home, together with the son of her two neighbors, Claudia still had the pleasant taste of coffee on her tongue. She thought that if she had gone to Mr. Fermín's café in the morning, she would not have had to go through so much. She smiled a little and thought that life was definitely easier after a good cup of coffee.