Mrs. Pepper and the Coffee Mill
In the light and spacious kitchen of Mrs. Pepper several things were piled up: pans black as coal, fat pots like small barrels, ceramics dishes and cups decorated with roses and tulips.
The ladles and the slotted spoons hang near the oven and were arranged from bigger to smaller. Forks, knives and spoons rested in wicker boxes and on the shelves, decorated with red laces, lied the glasses that she received on her wedding with Mr. Laurel.
What she most liked about that kitchen was, without any doubt, her coffee mill. Mr. Laurel had given it to her as a present just one month ago, together with a thick packet of a very good coffee.
That coffee mill, varnished in a burgundy colour, had a tiny drawer and a big wheel which spinned and spinned, while grinding up at the sound of
criiiiic, craaaac, criiiiic, craaaaac the fragant grains of coffee.
In fact, Mrs. Pepper didn’t really like coffee neither hot nor cold, nor sweet nor bitter, but she loved the fact of grinding and preparing it to his husband.
On her birthday, Mrs. Pepper received lots of presents such as a silk mantilla, her favourite perfume, a cookbook, some chocolates and a wonderful electric coffee maker that made Mr. Laurel very happy.
From that moment, every evening Mrs. Pepper made a delicious coffee in that shiny coffee maker which used to make
pfsssssssssssssssssss before placing the thick and black liquid into the cup.
-
This coffee is extraordinary, my dear… -said Mr. Laurel while reading his newspaper-
Ahhhh, there is nothing like progress!Some days and weeks went by and every evening Mr. Laurel drunk the coffee from that electric coffee maker which had become the star in Mrs. Pepper’s kitchen while her old coffee mill had been left out and it had already accumulated some dust on her splendid wheel.
One Sunday, after lunch, when Mrs. Pepper tried to turn on the electric coffee maker, she heard a weird noise…
paffffffffffffff and the coffee maker sttopped working. It was just then that Mrs. Pepper remembered his old coffee mill and, thinking about anything in particular, she went to the kitchen and took it out of the cupboard. Then, she opened a packet of coffee grains, took a few and she put them into the tiny drawer. Afterwards she began to turn the wheel.
She suddenly stopped when she realised that the grinded coffee was falling on the table…
But, how's that? Where was the tiny drawer? She didn’t remember having taken it out of the coffee mill, or was it maybe that she didn’t place it back when she last grinded the coffee?
She went to the cupboard and looked inside but the small drawer wasn’t there. She looked also in the cutlery box and among the cups, but the drawer didn’t appear.
How is it possible? I might be growing old because I start forgetting where I leave the things I use…- said Mrs. Pepper.
She opened doors, revised wardrobes and finally she looked into the oven and, can you believe it? There was the tiny drawer!!
Mrs. Pepper thought it was just a slip-up and she didn’t think much about it. The next day, the tiny drawer disappeared again but Mr. Laurel swore once and again that he hadn’t gone into the kitchen that evening and so that he hadn’t seen it, so...
-Miaow Miaow, have you hidden the coffee drawer? – asked Mrs. Pepper to her dear cat.
Oh, dear! What a vulgar remark! – purred the feline very angry- Have you ever seen me playing with it?I have enough work preening my whiskers…- and while turning around very proudly, Miaow Miaow left the kitchen.
The tiny drawer appeared two days later in the bucket she used to clean the floor. Tired of such incomprehensible disappearences, the lady thought she should keep an eye on the coffee mill at all times. Even when she went to bed she used to lock it in a box.
But no matter what she did, the small drawer always ended up disappearing and then reappearing in strange places such as biscuits boxes, the sewing basket or even the laundry basket.
-This coffee mill might be bewitched ! – said Mrs. Pepper with apprenhension.
- Well, you can throw it away right now and there won't be any more problems. The best coffee in the world is now made in our electric coffee maker and not in that old iron coffee maker, so don’t make your life more complicated. There is nothing like progress, my dear!- answered Mr. Laurel while drinking his coffee again, as the electric coffee maker had already been repaired.
However, Mrs. Pepper wasn’t very convinced of the wonderful use of the gadgets her husband used to like and she still didn’t want to get rid of her wonderful coffee mill.
She spent some time thinking and finally thought that maybe the coffee mill was just jealous, like human beings, and that perhaps it wanted to have more attention. That's why it was behaving badly and used to do all those weird things.
In fact, Mrs. Pepper was convinced that every single thing in the world, even the most simple, had a soul, a history and its own feelings.
As she didn’t want to disappoint her husband and neither herself, she devised an innocent plan.
After her reflections, she moved the electric coffee maker away on a corner and put her old coffee mill in the best place of the kitchen.
The next day, when Mr. Laurel asked for his coffee while sitting outside on the garden, Mrs. Pepper left her knitting, went quickly to the kitchen, took a few coffee grains, put them into de tiny drawer and turned the wheel gently. The coffee, while grinding, did that lovely sound again criiiiiic, craaaaac, criiiiic, craaaaac…
The fragrant grinded coffee was dropped into the small drawer forming a brilliant pile. Some minutes later, she put her iron electric coffee maker on the burner and soon started to boil while spreading a nice aroma that made Mr. Laurel send out a whoop of joy… That smells wonderfully, my dear! Ah, there is nothing like progress!
From that moment on, during many years, and without letting know Mr. Laurel, the electric coffee maker rested silent in a corner of the kitchen while the coffee mill played its special role at the snack time.
And if Mr. Laurel and Mrs. Pepper had been able to see in the dark, when everybody was in bed, they would have seen how the coffee mill shined in the middle of the kitchen and how the wheel danced and danced proudly with happiness, while the sweet and smooth aroma of the coffee went out of its tiny drawer. That same coffee was the one keeping the “Lord of the house” happy, having it right after the ‘siesta’ time, when he used to read the newspaper and his wife, Mrs. Pepper, used to embroider those beautiful tablecloths or wove lovely socks.
María del Carmen Polo
