30/10/2017 – tnkerr-Writing Prompts and Practice

I had a good time with these prompts. No such thing as too much practice!

Written for OLWG #22

Danielle and I were newlyweds when I first learned about her “sensitivity” to caffeine. Her folks had stayed at our house while we were on our honeymoon. That had worked out well, as they were able to look after the dogs for the week and a half that we were in Mexico. I was going to take them to the airport this afternoon and they were going back to Cincinnati, leaving my bride and me to get busy with married life.

The entire time that we had been dating and cohabitating she never drank coffee or tea. I just assumed that she didn’t like them. She wasn’t into sugary drinks either. She ate healthy. Organic produce, very little beef; chicken, fish, and eggs were her main sources of protein. She exercised and was physically fit.

That first morning after returning from Puerto Vallarta she woke early.

“Stay in bed for awhile, honey,” she whispered to me. “I’m going to go downstairs and make breakfast before Mom and Dad get up.” She gave me a peck on the cheek and got out of the bed. I rolled over and closed my eyes, I did not intend to go back to sleep, but I did.

Some time later I woke up to a loud crash from downstairs. Not knowing what to think, but fearing the worst, I leapt from the bed and ran downstairs in my boxers. Turning at the base of the stairs I encountered my first problem when I entered the living room, falling flat on my face. The furniture was rearranged and I had tripped over the coffee table, badly bruising my shin and breaking a front tooth. Danielle was headed my way fast. She stepped on my fingers as she knelt down next to me and handed me a napkin wrapped around a cinnamon roll.

“Oh good, you’re finally up,” she said as she stood, grinding my fingers into the floor. “Here’s a sticky bun, I have laundry in the washer, can you move it to the dryer for me when it’s done washing? There’s a coffee cake in the oven and you can pull it out when the timer goes off. Put lots of butter on the top and then put the crumbles on. They’re in the bowl next to the stove. I’ve gotta go – got errands to run! I’ll be back as soon as I can.” She jingled her keys, gave my butt a squeeze and ran out the front door. I heard the car lay rubber as she pulled away from the house.

“What happened here?” My father in law asked as he hit the bottom stair and saw me sprawled on the floor.

“I’m not really sure,” I answered him as I struggled back to my feet. “I think, I’ve seen the devil.”

“Danielle?” he asked, and I nodded my head as I watched him move into the kitchen. “Here’s the problem,” he said. I came up behind him and peered over his shoulder. He was looking at a half pot of coffee sitting in the coffee maker, “That girl can’t handle coffee. I thought you’da known that by now.”

“Jeeze,” I said and I shook my head.

“My fault,” he said, “I shoulda warned you. She gets that from her mother, I thought you knew. You should never give her coffee.”

“Well, she won’t be having any more.” I said.

Just then the timer sounded for the coffee cake. I turned it off and opened the oven. It was a beautiful cake so I grabbed a couple pot holders, pulled it out and set it on top of the stove next to the pan of cinnamon rolls.

“Do you guys want some sweets for breakfast?” I asked.

“Yeah, that sounds good. I’ll go get Marge but you need to pour out that coffee, turn off the pot and open a window to air this place out. I don’t want Marge to be tempted. That’s the last thing we need.” He headed back upstairs and I did as he had asked.

I buttered the top of the cake and put the crumble on just as Danielle’s parents got downstairs. Her mom gave me the once over and raised one eyebrow.

“I was just going up for some clothes.” I hurried out of the room for a sweat shirt and trousers. When I got back down Hank and Marge were seated at the kitchen table with orange juice and thick slices of coffee cake.

Marge looked up at me, “I like what you’ve done to the living room,” she intoned, “Where’s Danielle?”

“She’s just running some errands,” I said.

My mother in law started nodding her head knowingly, “You should never let that girl have coffee, you know. It makes her a little hyper. It’ll wear off in time though.”

I swallowed, “How long?”

“Two or three days is all. You shouldn’t lose too much sleep.” Marge and Hank both smiled at me and had another bite of coffee cake.

This week’s prompts are: