Bring Joy

5^th January 2015

Dear Cassi,

An article of my work tack often asked about is a heavy green ammo can I carry my coffee gear in when traveling to and from the job. A good number of folks mistake this for a lunch pail or the like, and I have been asked why I carry a car battery to work with me.

I take this to work with me because it has a complete seal, and if my coffee brakes open or there is a leak of some kind it will not mar my car. I could fill this case with water and seal it then bring it to work. In the time before I used this case I had coffee stains all over the place.

Now, when I mean coffee what I mean is filters, coffee, cream, sugar, and a jar to keep the old grounds in so I can feed them to my worms. This is to say that I take a full coffee service to work with me and make the coffee fresh to my liking. It has been noted that my arrival is known by the smell of my coffee which is welcome in a shelter for the homeless.

       

It comes to me that I tend to bring joy along with me when I come to a place. Bringing some kind of small joy may seem insignificant, but if we all did the same the world would be better, for a small joy from every one is a big change.

Bring joy, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Streamlining

24^th June 2013

Dear Cassi,

It was the odd happening of my weekend that I worked an extra day and so had one day off only to sleep through almost the full duration. It was not until Monday afternoon that I finally woke for the day and found myself useful. As it stood I had my work cut out for me.

       

Pickles had put some work into the dishes and so the sink was still disgusting. I know that he ran the dishwasher once this morning before I roused and I ran a second after I made us a chicken salad.  This made almost no dent in the dirt and grime of my home and so I labored on with laundry and dishes literally until the moment I grabbed my coffee box and left for work.

       

Here it becomes necessary to note that measured out my coffee, creamers, and sugar for the week. These all went into a set of glass jars that I keep in my old turkey pan. On a Monday, the turkey pan and my coffee box should be full, and so I should have no need for grinding coffee for the week.

       

This makes for one less thing I need to do every night and so should streamline my week. Every morning when I come home I should restock my coffee box for work and every night I should then have to do no more than pick it up before I leave.

       

This is again one of my futile acts of streamlining my life. Surprise will overwhelm me if I manage to do this again next week. I’ve come up with idea after idea for how to make my life faster and more efficient by never have I kept the practice and rarely has it been much of an improvement.

Never give up, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal

Kittens

4^th November 2012

Dear Cassi,

       

The events of the day are those kind that are at once wonderful and terrible all at the same time. It was my pleasure to work overtime today and so came in for a three to eleven shift. Knowing that I was in for hard work I made myself ready.

       

I had come in to work only moments ago and just started my coffee, as is my custom at the start of my shift, when a man came to the front and told me that kittens had been left in the street. I recall that he had a gray beard about him and dirty clothes so I had the impression that he was a street man.

       

Now, you and I are folk who know good and well that those who have fought the hardest can often be the most forgiving of people. This man of the street had a desperation in his heart that could be read in his eyes to find someone to look after these animals. Why he turned to me is a question I never asked, but he did and all I could say was “let’s have a look”.

       

He ran across the street trough traffic and took up an orange department store bag that had seen some use and ran back to me. In this bag were four bundles of fur that had seen as many bad times at their ark and so I said I would see to the kittens.

       

I looked down at those four balls of fluf and could tell by the dry dark spots in the corners of their eyes that they had seen harder days. Thus it came to me that I would need to find them milk in the next six minutes. My first thought was the gas station and so I asked if they sold the nectar of a cow and was told they did indeed carry the product.

       

The poor homeless man who brought the kittens to me offered to buy it for me out of his own meager funds but I declined. In the end I handed a homeless teen a ten dollar bill and asked her to go to the local market and get me cream and tuna for the cats.

       

For the next eight hours the cats were a joy to my clients who took them into the lobby and played with the animals. The homeless have more love to give than many normal folks. Even the hard ones, covered in ink and scars, became as children in holding the kittens.

       

You know I have a chunk of ice in my heart and a sense of duty in my head that gave me no hesitation in looking after these animals. Even with this augmentation there was a part of me touched to see these proceedings.

Guard the tender spots in your heart, little sister,

Richard Leland Neal  

Man and Cat

27^th June 2012

Dear Cassi,

It was on this eve that I was asked to attend some welcome home gathering for a fellow of my acquaintance and having need to collect my coffee from this site I had no room for refusal. The affair was a bother to me as I work nights and it was in the late hours giving me need to rush. Still, I can fault them none in my invitation, as I have never put out to them my ill feeling in any right manner as opportunity has been short.

       

On my arrival I was greeted as if they had seen me yesterday not as a man absent for some months. I am given to feel as if there is something left unsaid by this bunch. Some lingering nature has passed into the realm of taboo and so haunts the air of my arrival. It is as if there is a great looming darkness in the room that will kill the first who speaks of its presents.

       

It is no matter, though, as I come chiefly to say hello to the animals. No less than three cats and four dogs were in attendance tonight. Of these seven six were of good health and one, an orange cat, had grown ill.

       

There was a time when this cat would have run to me and put his front paws on my leg so that I would pick him up. Now he only looks at me as if he tries to remember who I am. I took his bony frame into my arms as I always do and found that he weighed little more than a pound.

       

This was so much the oddity to have this animal so close to death so happy to see me as he had been in better health. He called his call and rubbed his chin in my arm greeting me as a long absent good friend. There was a bitter sweet moment when I returned him to his normal roost that I think we both felt.

       

I may never see that poor animal again, but he had the demeanor lost in most humans. In a way, we should aspire to be so well met as man and cat. This an alliance without fear or mistrust is so worming to the heart.

May you always know the nectar of friendship,

Richard Leland Neal 

Hipster Coffee