Bright rays of sunlight touched my eyes the next morning, waking me from a night of uncomfortable slumber on the floor next to my telescope. I stood and cracked my sore back before looking down at my wrinkled appearance and frowning, I would have to wash clothes, I was out. Like the old man I felt like in that moment I moved slowly down the stairs and gathered my clothes, tossing them into a cloth sack. Before I left I pulled out my "reserve" clothes and put them on, then I strode out the door, my laundry bag over my shoulder, to ask my customary favor.
Colleen smiled at me as I came through the door of the Ocarina Inn; the clothes I was wearing meant one thing and one thing only: laundry day. The dainty woman took the full sack from me and went to the back room where she did laundry, telling Yolanda to get me some coffee as she went. I sat down in the same corner as before and leaned back in my chair as Yolanda brought my coffee over, she asked if I wanted anything else so I went ahead and asked for toast again. The wallpaper kept me company as I took in the early morning routine of the Inn, it wasn't often that I was here before midday and I was almost certain that I had arrived today before they were actually open. Jake was straightening papers with little reading glasses perched on his nose at his end of the room and in the kitchen Maya and Yolanda were involved in what seemed to be a cooking lesson. I sipped my hot coffee, almost pleased with the feeling of my tongue very nearly being burned by the bitter liquid.
Angela walked through the door and I froze, my eyes locked onto her as she walked over to Maya and Yolanda. Anxiously, I took another sip from my coffee as she talked with them, making comments on Maya's cooking. I wondered if she was still upset. Then she turned around and the smile dropped from her face as she took in the sight of me sitting in the corner again. I cursed myself for staying out dressed the way I was and crossed my bare arms as I turned my face away from her. The clothes I was wearing weren't so bad but they certainly weren't my style: a black tank top and a pair of ripped jeans. I hadn't been watching long enough to see the smirk that crept its way onto her face.
Angela came over to me with the smirk on her face and I unfolded my arms to take a sip of my coffee, my face still turned to the side. "Hey, Wizard" she said calmly, I nodded to acknowledge her and she sat down across from me. "Nice clothes." My head snapped to the side and I saw that she had a full blown smile on her face now. I scowled.
"Laundry day…" I muttered, and took a bite of the toast I had been ignoring.
"I think it's a nice change from the high necks and long sleeves." Angela said cheerfully. I looked up at her and she sort of gasped before twisting around to dig in her back for something. I sighed and put my elbow on the table, resting my head in my hand, as she continued to search fruitlessly. "Aha!" She said at long last and pulled a little burlap sack out of her bag and put it on the table.
"Sh-shining coffee beans?" I said in a somewhat flabbergasted tone as I investigated the bag. These were of the highest quality, a luxury I seldom had the funds to obtain for myself. Angela looked at me and smiled gently.
"I'm sorry about being so callous. Normally I'm a lot better with people than I have been with you…" Angela said sheepishly and I sighed.
"I should be the one saying sorry... My reaction was childish and emotional… I had no reason to be so harsh." I said slowly, running my hand through my hair as I spoke.
"Your reaction wasn't childish, it was human." Angela said calmly and stood from the table. "But thank you. Enjoy the coffee beans." It was all I could do to murmur a similar thanks as she breezed out the door of the Inn. When I turned back to my toast and coffee I found myself almost lonely. Though we had clashed Angela had brought a refreshing break to the tedium of my daily routines. I hoped warily that she would visit me again, though I had a healthy doubt that it would happen.
When the sun rose the next morning to me still working at my desk my hopes of Angela visiting had faded entirely. My order of coffee beans had arrived later the previous afternoon and I had set them aside in favor of the high quality beans that Angela had given, but once I found myself brewing them I felt almost bitter at the thought that she was the one who had given them to me. Certainly I owed her something; beans of this caliber didn't come free of charge. I rubbed my eyes and drank deeply from the delicious coffee as I moved over to the crystal ball that sat in the center of the room. I held my hand above it and the insides started to fog as I wondered what to look for.
Angela was working on her farm, trying to finish the day's work as early as possible. The chickens were fed and the eggs had been collected, her little black cow, Bonnie, had been milked and brushed, the field had been weeded, and she was carefully watering the rows of lettuce and potatoes. Her mind lingered on the things she still had to do, the many goals she had yet to meet. There must have been a million of them. Go to the ranch and buy a duckling, grow lettuce as a favor to Ruth, find time to search the Watery Cave for a black pearl, go fishing, patch that damn leak in her watering can, figure out what the trees that take up half her field were even good for, visit everyone, bring Bo lunch so the railway can get fixed, and clean her house for the first time since she had moved in. If there was a single thing that she desperately wanted it was a few more rainy days so that she wouldn't have to waist an hour watering the plants and could get something done for once.
The Wizard smiled inwardly. Bringing a gentle drizzle was a small feat, and more than enough to repay Angela. Though she wouldn't know it, the blessed rain that came for the next two days was his doing, and it was more than enough in his mind to repay her for the coffee beans, even if she didn't know that he caused it. He returned to his studies with a clear mind and good coffee.