A friend asked me one day if I wanted to have a wonderful experience. That's all. He didn't give me any details, didn't tell me where or how, just to wait for a message. With a lot of intrigue I said yes and soon after, after leaving work, I received on my cell phone the location of a place with no name.
Two days later, the weekend arrived and I decided to find out what it was all about. With my car I followed the indication given by the phone and step by step I left the city. I reached a wooded area, a bit in the middle of nowhere, where there were no signs of any kind. I walked up a cobblestone road and came upon a small wooden hut. On the door was a hand-carved name: “Café Caroline”.
As I entered, everything seemed normal in this peculiar café. I was greeted by a lady of indeterminate age with a big smile, "Hello, I'm Caroline! She said to me in a strange accent that I couldn't make out...Sit down, you are at home, she then added and went behind the bar where I couldn't see her. Apart from her and me there was no one else in the place.
The whole space was made of wood. Both the floor and the ceiling were made of very nice planks of carefully polished wood with brown and yellowish streaks. I don't know why, but I had the feeling that if I looked carefully at those veins I could see moments of my life.
The coffee tables were small, with just enough space for two people, not designed to accommodate crowds. The seats, also made of wood, were covered with very, very comfortable cushions that occupied the entire space from the back to the floor. On the walls there were small circular windows similar to those on ships.
A few minutes later Carolina approached with a steaming cup of black coffee. She delicately placed the cup on the table and told me that it was a very special kind of coffee, it could make me travel anywhere in the present or in the past. But that I could do that only three times while the coffee was hot, so I would have to calculate very well the time I would dedicate to each experience.
I took a sip and thought of my daughter, whom I haven't seen for seven years. Suddenly I was transported to a beautiful terrace on a bright afternoon. There my daughter was having a coffee and chatting with a friend. I reached out my hand to signal her, but it was as if I was inside a bubble, I realized that I was invisible to others. However, I could hear what my daughter was saying to her friend. They were talking about work, about the new projects they had, and my daughter commented that after so long things were finally going well for her. Her happy face gave me a lot of peace of mind. I closed my eyes and suddenly I was back in front of my coffee. I took a while to assimilate that experience, but I remembered Caroline's words, that I should take advantage of the time before the coffee got cold.
I took another sip and thought of something that happened to me in my youth, with a girl I had been dating for a while and whom I was beginning to love very much. We had arranged to meet at a café near Parque del Este, in Caracas. That day we would decide if we were going to study at a university in the interior of the country, the idea was to live together. But she did not show up that afternoon and I never heard from her again.
I saw myself in a tree near the entrance of the park. Suddenly there was my girl about to enter, she was accompanied by a friend. Impulsively I raised my hand and waved it with the intention of her seeing me, I had forgotten that I was invisible. Just as it happened with my daughter, I could clearly hear what my girlfriend and the other girl were talking about...
The other girl was telling my girlfriend that she should tell me, but she said no, that she didn't have the courage to tell me that there was no future for us. A few days ago she had been diagnosed with a terrible disease for which there was no cure at that time. My girlfriend said that before subjecting me to that pain she would rather I thought anything... She took her friend by the arm, and I watched them walk back to the entrance of the subway station...
With my eyes full of tears I returned to my place in the café. After so many years I was able to solve a mystery that had tormented me many times. I felt bad because more than once I thought that girlfriend had stopped loving me, but I wish that had been the reason why she did not attend our date...
Those two experiences had been enough for me. I didn't want to use my third chance and let the coffee get cold.
Carolina looked at me from the bar. That's life, she told me, we have the good but also the bad, the happy but also the sad...You can come whenever you want. You are welcome to Caroline's coffee...
Thank you for your time.
Translated with DeepL.com (free version).
