This topic reminds me of Ezekiel, a neighbor and a friend who moved into our compound two years ago from the western part of Nigeria. Among the few people in the compound, he found it easy to get along with me and decided to bond as friends. Our friendship grew, apart from my easygoing nature, when he discovered that I take coffee.
I remember that particular day when he came into my house and saw me spooning a dark brown liquid into my mouth from the mug. When he jokingly commented on my soft lifestyle of drinking tea in the morning, I told him it was coffee I was taking.
"You take coffee too?" he asked.
"Yes, na. I love coffee. I prefer it to tea, especially when I know I have a long day ahead. It keeps dizziness away from me," I responded, without much concern, because I thought he was about to tell me the benefits of drinking tea instead of coffee as many people do in my neighborhood.
"Wow! We are alike. I take coffee instead too. Where I worked in my place, our boss was a white man, and he drank coffee every morning. That's how I got acquainted with it," Ezekiel said, which melted my heart knowing that I found someone who preferred the bitter coffee to the sweet tea we have.
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That's how our bond grew into friendship. It became more interesting when I found out that he drinks it almost every morning as a ritual because, according to him, it gives him the strength to carry out his tasks for the day. Maybe coffee is an energy drink; I don't know.
It's only on days when he's not going to work that I join him in his house to sip a cup of coffee. During those moments, he usually puts on his generator while we charge our phones, watch TV, sip our coffee, and talk a lot about women, especially the recent one on his list that's proving hard to get.
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Ezekiel is far older than me, but he isn't married and has a small stature, which makes him look like someone in my age group. Although this shouldn't be a yardstick for a relationship, we get along easily, especially when we start talking about his intention to get married. The ladies he's been trying his luck on have not been positive, and we also talk a lot about football, especially his Premier League club, which is Chelsea.
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When we sit and start analyzing all this with a cup of coffee in our hands, the conversation is always endless, and most times the cup will be emptied, and we'll still be talking. Of course, such moments happen on days we find as relaxation days because, as for me, I'm always at home because I work from home. He gets ready for such endless discussions on days when he's not going to work.
Thanks!
This is my entry to #spillthebeans challenge.