The dog, the old woman and Martha's decision.

-Martha, the problem is not the 15 minutes delay, what worries me is the conditions in which you arrived.

Said her boss looking at her with a bit of contempt. Martha wanted to explain herself, but she knew that nothing she could say could justify it. It occurred to her that she could lie, but she had done enough wrong that morning without adding to her karma with a lie. So she would tell the truth and handle the situation with dignity.

Her boss handed her a blank sheet of paper along with a pencil and explained that she had to give her a statement of reasons for her tardiness or she would have to give her a reprimand. Martha took a deep breath and began to write:

Monday, January 30, 2023.

"The Grand Marquis" used car sale

Dr. Anna Stron

I hereby state the reasons why I have arrived late and under unacceptable conditions to perform my duties for the company. But to understand what happened to me you must know something about me first.

I come from a coffee growing family, my father was the owner of a well-known coffee company and therefore had a lot of money. But the economic abundance cost him much more than he thought, to reach success he had to lie, ally himself with bad people and lead his life through corrupt ways. That disintegrated my family, made my siblings and I grow up in a dysfunctional environment and my mother left home, abandoning us forever.

This generated in me some anxiety and behavioral disorders, which I learned over time to alleviate with high doses of caffeine.

With this intimate introduction, I will continue with the details of what happened this morning. I got up as usual at 6:30 am, showered and dressed, applied my creams and makeup, then I went to the kitchen to prepare my desired cup of coffee, but something happened, the grinder was out of order, I turned it off and on a couple of times but nothing happened. My pulse started to increase and my hands were sweating, as I said in the first lines: There are many things inside me that are ordered only with my coffee dose.

I tried to keep calm, I knew that nowhere would sell me coffee before 8:30, so I thought I could go to work and in the middle of the morning go out and have a good cup of coffee. But something inside me shuddered, at that moment I became aware of how dependent I am, a handicapped person unable to go about her life without first drinking her medicine. I had been drinking my morning coffee for so many years that I had never considered the idea of not having it.

I didn't think much about it, I left my house as if possessed by a dark force. And I headed next door, where my neighbor Betty lived, a poor, lonely, bitter old woman who had never said hello to me in all the years we had been neighbors. I knew one of her back windows was broken, so I slipped in through there.

I arrived at her kitchen walking slowly, because it was just beginning to get light and the whole house was dark. I got the switch and turned on the light, the kitchen was a mess, dirty dishes made a fetid tower next to the sink, everything looked dirty and unpleasant. I saw in the kitchen an aluminum jug, I approached by inertia, surprise inside there was brewed coffee, who knows how long ago.

I turned on the stove and reheated it, my watch showed 8:00 am so I had no time to prepare it, I would drink that one to be able to go out. It was just starting to heat up when I heard noise from upstairs in the house, I had to get out of there. I took the hot mug and felt it burn my hand, but I didn't stop. I started drinking the coffee straight from the carafe, it tasted horrible, but I didn't care I was being dragged away by my desperation.

I heard footsteps approaching, but I couldn't stop drinking. When there was only a little brown liquid left I felt a sharp pain in my leg, I dropped the jug and the remaining coffee spilled on my clothes. It was Betty's dog biting me. Immediately Betty came into the kitchen yelling and insulting me, she called me a damn thief and said other things like she always knew I wasn't normal; that didn't bother me, because I think the old lady is right.

The dog ripped my pants while Betty was hitting me with her broom, when I tried to run I tripped and fell on the floor, that allowed the dog to tear the sleeve of my shirt and Betty let off steam hitting me some more.

I don't know how I got out of there, I think the late night coffee gave me the strength to run. Betty and the dog were left screaming and howling while I walked away straight to the bus stop, until I boarded the bus I didn't realize that my clothes were dirty, torn, bloody and that my watch read 8:16am, it was already late.

I think this whole narrative clearly explains the reasons why I was late and in bad shape. I guess the truth doesn't sound as good as I thought it would, but thanks to this exercise I think I have discovered how much I love coffee and how little I care about this job. So I take my leave cordially and forever, without expecting any consideration from you.

Sincerely yours: Martha.