Joe's Coffee Problem (Micro-story #2)

Joe always woke up at eight in the morning. He would have his coffee, and perhaps a bowel of cereal. Inevitably, he would notice that he was running late. He would quickly comb his hair, using a little bit of water, and a tiny dab of hair gel. Although he was aging, he seemed to have most of his hair. He was in fairly good health.

There was one thing though. He always seemed to be tired. Thus, he had formed the habit of drinking a lot of coffee. By the middle of the morning, it was impossible to know how much of it he had already consumed.

There were some consequences as a result of his habit. One was that he made many trips to the restroom during his work day. The other was, despite being tired, he often had trouble falling asleep at night. Of course, the second problem would resolve itself. After a few late nights, he became so fatigued he'd fall asleep at an early hour. This didn't mean he wouldn't be tired when he woke up in the morning. He would start the whole cycle over again.

One day, Joe decided he was going to ween himself off of the caffeine fix. So, a little each day, he replaced the caffeinated coffee with decaf. His hope was to reach the point where he didn't feel the urge to drink coffee at all. But even if he could only reach the point of drinking decaf exclusively, he would be happy.

At first, over a period of a few days, he felt horrible. Over a longer period, he felt even worse. So, eventually, he went back the other way, and began to drink more and more caffeinated coffee.

He supposed, some addictions were not only worth not giving up, but were enjoyable and useful. He decided coffee was actually good for his health.