Cup and saucer

My white coffee cup is the first thing that greets me each morning. At night, it sleeps with the rest of the lime-stained cups and underused soup bowls. It stands alone and answers to no partner: its companion saucer didn’t make it to the knapsack of a friend where the cup managed to find refuge.

I was merely admiring the gentle curve along the lower portion of the cup, as well as the handle that had two depressions – one for the bone where the thumb would rest, the other for the protruding part of the thumb that anchors the cup to my fingers. How was I to know that friendship was sealed by pick pocketing an admired object at a busy coffee shop?

And so the hapless coffee cup began its relationship with a mistress who had to have at least three cups a day, with nary a saucer to keep it company. The mistress soon realized that the cup is not a cup without a saucer. As if this hobbled without that. As if mortar was dulled without pestle. The mistress found the cup lacking a skirt.

Now my white coffee cup wears a green skirt. The green skirt was itself wanting a cup to put some sense to its existence, for what else is that round depression at its center for? The bottom of the cup that used to nestle was long gone. Nobody knows where it is. It may have been left behind during the first moving-out. It may have met its shattering ending at the hands of a careless dishwasher, overzealous with the soap.

The saucer is a Victorian-inspired full skirt that gently sways with every movement. It is steady when the cup is as shaky as the coffee it contains, wisely decides to keep quiet when the cup is a screaming hag and heartily agrees when the cup is honored with the presence of an impeccable blend. The white coffee cup, now stained with the years by lime and brew, is a class of its own, with a proud head and a lovely demeanor. But with the printed green skirt, its white countenance stood out all the more.

And so the cup looks forward to be kissed by its mistress each day with the knowledge that there is the saucer nodding in approval. Even in those days when the mistress neglects to wash the cup, the saucer will always keep the shamed cup company.