A Full Cup of Coffee

                Dan Kotler was reading the newspaper and enjoying his second cup of coffee when his friend, Joanne Bloom, came into the café. Joanne waved to him and joined the line of people waiting to order their coffee. A few minutes later, Joanne sat down across from her friend.   

                “You did a Frank.”

                “A what?” Joanne asked.

                “The good deed you did. I saw you bought that man his coffee.”

                “Why do you call what I did a Frank?”

                “I call it a Frank. You can call your good deeds whatever you want. A Barney Fife. An Adam Sandler. A Christine Aguilera. I don’t care. It’s not important.” Dan said while stirring his coffee.

                “What you’re describing sounds like ‘Pay it Forward’”.

                “You could call it that but that’s kind of overused and commercialized after everyone saw the movie.”

                “All I did was pay for the guy’s coffee.”

                “Why’d you do it?” Dan asked.

                “His credit card was declined and he said he didn’t have any cash.”

                “Joanne, you could have let him walk out of the cafe without the coffee.”

                “It was less than five dollars.”

                “It’s still five dollars.”

                “I came to the shop to enjoy a hot cup of coffee and to talk to you. It’s cold outside. If I came here to enjoy a cup, then I can assume he came for the same reasons. I thought he’d appreciate not having to go home empty handed.”

                “What do you want to call it?” 

                “I don’t know, Dan. Have you always called it a Frank?”

                “I’m a little embarrassed. It’s kind of biblical. I used to call it an Elijah.” 

                “You mean like do unto others as you would have them do unto you?”

                “It’s sort of like that. You’re quoting the Golden Rule. It can be found in Luke 6:31 and Matthew 7:12.”

                “You studied the New Testament.”

                “No. I looked it up. Confucius pretty much said the same thing. “What you do not wish upon yourself, extend not to others.”

                “Any others?”

                “Epicurus.”

                “Epicurus?”

                “He said, “Neither to harm, nor be harmed.”

                “Anymore?”

                “One more. In Leviticus, it says, “When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were the foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God”.

                “Why did you do so much research?”

                “Sometimes I give away more than five dollars. I’m not making light of what you did. I think buying that man a cup of coffee was awesome. However, sometimes I wonder if the same rules apply if it’s a bigger good deed or if it’s money to a charity. I used to wonder if the money is being used appropriately or if the money was being wasted. Now I don’t.”

                “I think I get it. Why do you call yours an Elijah?”

                “This is going to take a while.”

                “It’s okay. I know where to get a second cup if I need one.”

                “Elijah the Prophet…”

                “I thought you meant Elijah Woods.”

                “That would be okay too. I like Elijah Woods and the way Frodo treated his friends.” Dan paused and took a sip. “Elijah, according to legend, could appear in any form. It was a test to see if you were willing to be charitable to strangers regardless of their appearance, gender, race, or if they were sick or disfigured.”

                “Tell me what you’ve done for strangers.”

                “Most of the time I do what you did. I buy groceries for someone when their credit card is declined, or I make up the difference if they’re short on cash when they’ve taken too many items to the checkout line at the supermarket.”

                “But you said you’ve gone bigger.”

                “I sometimes go bigger because I want to test something about myself. I want to see what I’m capable of doing and how I feel about it.

                “Give me an example.”

                “I was at the Walmart in Heber. There was this guy in line in front of me with his two daughters and he was spending more on chewing tobacco than he was on food. Based on the way the girls were dressed, he looked like he was stretched a little thin. That’s as far as I go when it comes to making judgements about how much money someone has. That day was a scorcher. It was at least ninety-five degrees. I was wondering why the girls are at Walmart with their Dad rather than at a pool or playing under a sprinkler. Right next to the register, Walmart was having a clearance sale on above ground pools.”

                “You didn’t.”

                “I did. I asked the guy if he had his truck with him and if he had room in his backyard for the pool?” 

                “So, you wouldn’t have done it if it wasn’t such a hot day?”

                “Sometimes the tumblers line up in the right order.”

                “Continue.”

                “He asks me if I’m serious. I tell him yes and I ask the cashier to ring up a pool on my credit card.”

                “How much was it?”

                “I don’t know exactly. It was less than four hundred dollars.”

                “What if he returned the pool for store credit or a refund as soon as you left the store?”

                “Good question. That was the test. I paid for the pool and no matter how strong the pull, I refused to turn around and look to see if he asked for a refund or a store credit.”

                “So, you don’t know whether the girls ever got their pool.”

                “That’s right. I was trying to teach myself that giving should be unconditional. He’s the girls’ father and maybe he has a better idea what that money should be used for. I can only hope that he did the right thing with the pool or the money, just like I hope charitable organizations do the right thing with the money I donate.”

                “You’re an idiot. You should have waited to see if he loaded the pool in the back of his truck.”

                “Nope. I kept walking. Got in my car and drove away.”

                “You said that you used to call it an Elijah.”

                “You’re a good listener. I call it another name now. About forty years ago I was at my grandfather’s country club and I could tell he was upset about something, and he was rarely upset. He always had a joke ready to tell. This day he was out-of-sorts. I asked him what was wrong and he told me that if someone is truly a friend and if they ask you to borrow money then you don’t have to ask them what it’s for or when they’ll repay it.”

                “Seems like a random thing to share with your grandson. What were you, sixteen?”

                “Something like that. I agree it was random. Ten years later I understood what had happened. My grandfather was doing some option trading and the market went the wrong way. There was a margin call, and he didn’t have the money to cover it. He asked my Dad to loan him the money. My father used the opportunity to embarrass him and to settle some emotional scores.”

                “Was it a financial reach for your Dad?”

                “No. He just wanted to hurt the guy. My grandfather thought they were friends. He learned differently that day and their relationship was never the same.”

                “Do you call helping someone out when they’re short on money a ‘grandfather’?”

                “Close. His name was Frank. You still haven’t told me what you’re going to call it when you pay for a guy’s coffee.”

                “I’ll call it a Dan.”

                “I’m honored.”