The Ear Drinks Coffee

COVID-19 was bad for general bloggers because of lockdown. We write about everything. Crowds, the bus, sitting on hard chairs waiting for the dentist or doctor, supermarket check-out and coffee shops are fertile ground for story ideas.

We write about the human condition, and the coffee shop is full of it. We hear things we are not supposed to hear, when we are waiting in line. It’s not intentional. Blame the ear, as people who created the Zulu language observed, the ear is a …………

We cannot provide a translation because it is an unprintable word. Hollywood made a movie, Lost in Translation. I’ve never seen it. It is just the title. Unforgettable.

Like everything else, the pandemic closed down coffee shops, which are like an art gallery of the human condition. We hear things because the ear is a …………… For example, a friend told a friend about his wonderful family and grand kids that live in Ottawa. It was December, so the coffee shop was decked in green and red splendour.

So, will you spend Christmas in Ottawa?

The grandfather stood up abruptly: I need a refill.

We hear things as we wait in line for the coffee, whether it is grab and go or for inside. One guy was making a pass at a worker. She dropped raindrops of politeness while she touched buttons on coffee machines that shoot up steam, until he said:

She was my second wife.

Was?

We hear things we are not supposed to hear, because as Zulu speakers say, the ear is a ……. No English translation provided, because the human condition cannot be translated.

By: Nonqaba waka Msimang.