3 October, the day before Jamie turns 29

Characters:

Jamie
Ami

Setting: Here and there.

Synopsis: In one year Jamie will turn thirty. He decides to write daily in a blog, hoping to capture (or create) a sense of the anticipation and loss inherent in transition. During this time, characters enter and exit the narrative, as characters are wont to do.



Today is the second day in a row Jamie has replaced coffee with tea. Sitting alone at the kitchen table, he repeatedly dunks a bag of Earl Grey in a mug of hot, milky water. Tea, he thinks, is coffee’s more-refined cousin. Coffee can be brutal, a ruthless taskmaster whose only pleasure comes from seeing us sweat. Tea is more subtle, suggesting in a wry way we move from our seat and dabble in a thing or two. Coffee dresses in fad-induced outfits, wears a hat of frothed milk, goes chilled, and disguises even its caffeinated purpose. Tea wears a suit, has always worn a suit, and doesn’t see any need to change just yet (although, feeling daring, sometimes dons cufflinks). Coffee is ostentatious. Tea is reserved. Coffee is Texas. Tea, Tibet.

Jamie tilts the mug back and swallows the last gulp. Tomorrow I turn 29, he thinks before setting the cup down. What does that mean?

“Hurry up. We’re going to miss the train.” Ami, dressed in a red cardigan and black trousers, winks at him as she winds a scarf she knitted around her neck. “It’s already 7:30,” she remarks, leaving the kitchen.

“I’m not ready yet,” Jamie replies, “I haven’t even brushed my teeth.” Already on the back foot, Jamie hopes quietly to manage to stay on top of things. Afterall, these are the last days of twenty.