Buzzzzz! My phone vibration almost made me spill my coffee.
"Gosh", I screamed as I reached for the phone from my pocket.
I checked and it turned out to be a message from my friend.
"Hey man, what's your plan for the weekend?".
"Nothing yet, I am busy right now", I replied.
"This won't take much time", he replied and continued typing.
"I have a drawing to deliver to my client tomorrow, coffee break is over and I am going back to work.", I replied before he could finish typing.
I finished my work a few hours later and checked Olu's messages.
"I got something you might be really interested in."
"I was taking a customer to her destination when she started talking to someone on the call about a special coffee that can make you travel in time".
"I thought it was a lie but it is real. I just left the coffee shop she mentioned during the call, it is very expensive but I got some for us."
"Should we try it at your place or mine?".
I went through the messages again and couldn't stop laughing.
"You must be out of your mind, what kind of coffee would make you travel in time?", I asked.
"We are doing this over the weekend at your place", Olu replied me immediately and it looks like he has been waiting for my response.
Weekend
I was barely out of bed in the morning when my phone rang.
Olu continued calling but I didn't pick up.
"Are you ignoring my calls, George", I jumped out of my bed when I heard the voice.
"Olu, is that you?", I asked as I turned around in the room.
"Yes, I am at your window. Open the door, don't let me wake your neighbors", he replied.
"This is 6 am, you could have just waited till daybreak", I grumbled as I went to open the door.
"Don't tell me you came this early because of that special coffee of yours?", I asked him as we walked in.
"I hate it when you make me sound like I am crazy", he replied.
"I am going back to the bedroom, the house is yours", I said to Olu as I returned to the room.
The house was quiet when I woke up which is very unusual whenever Olu is around. It is either he is disturbing with loud music or the aroma of his recipes is everywhere but none of this was happening.
"Olu! Olu!", I called severally as I checked everywhere in the house but he wasn't in any of the rooms.
On my way to pick up my phone, I saw a small pack of coffee powder and a note on the dining table.
"I left some of the special coffee for you in case you change your mind - Olu".
Every attempt to reach him failed and I gave up a few minutes after trying.
I did my chores, made breakfast, and was eating when he called back.
"I couldn't find you when I woke up and you didn't pick up when I called", I said after picking up the call.
"I was in the future when you called, we are going to be rich. Your art studio became the biggest in the whole country and I had several vehicles for my transportation business", Olu went on telling everything he saw in the future and he was excited.
The conversation ended and I returned to my food.
"I didn't tell Olu about the art studio yet, how did he get to know about it?", I asked myself.
My focus shifted from my meal to the special coffee powder that was a few inches away from me.
"Could such as thing exist?", I continue pondering over it as I ate my meal.
It was movie time after breakfast and I was on my way to make a cup of coffee when the special coffee cross my mind again and after much deliberation, I decided to try it out.
I settled in front of the TV set with a cup of coffee and immediately after I sipped from the mug, I felt a part of myself falling into a deep passage of time.
I could feel myself getting younger as I feel deeper, and it seem the coffee only needed me to think of a date I wanted to visit.
It took me to the 5th of August 1990, the day when I and my family were laughing as we journeyed to the airport, my dad was happy that he was going to seek a greener pasture for his family.
We spent a great time chatting before it was his departure time, the happy moment turned into sadness as we watch him walk away and our last hug felt like it was happening again.
It was a mixture of happy and sad emotions for me as I experienced that moment again, and I wished I could just remain there forever because we never had such time again as a family. A lot happened after and we never came back together as that once-happy family.
It has always been my dream to make that once complete family portrait since we never had one but a lot of years have passed before I became an artist and I couldn't come up be a genuine image in my head.
Revisiting that time in the past made the picture of us clear again and immediately after my time traveling ended, I drew out the image I captured in my head from the past.
I felt emotions flowing through my brush as I dipped it into the ink and I am happy that I took the coffee. The painting took me days and seeing it hanging on my wall give me hope of reuniting that once a happy family again.