Miguel burst into the Acacia-enclaved cafe tables. Everyone hushed. Indecisive and anxious, he bumped a Finnish couple who recoiled at his dirty feet, stained tank and sweaty face before cowering behind their map of tourist must-sees. But, noticing the barista getting just as irritated at him as they were, the couple felt validated as they watched him rush away mumbling Spanish profanities.
Mitchum, 12, from Omaha, blissfully sucked down his grande macchiato next to his exhausted, napping moms. The boy’s 1,600-calorie “coffee” was their ticket to welcomed silence until Miguel, passing quickly, spat at their feet below the pristine Starbucks logo. Shouting what translated to ‘American Filth!’, his disdain-filled gob splashed Mitchum’s Jordans. The ensuing pre-teen tizzy slapped the moms from their rare slumber and catapulted his drink onto the pavement as Miguel hurried down an alley.
Tess’s toes curled in her Birks watching Miguel punch the “Cerrado” sign on the cafe door. His fury was startling—and unexpectedly arousing. Disregarding the woman whom he shouted at, Tess lusted over his toned forearms and his pronounced lats peek-a-booing from his tank. As he flashed money to break the woman’s unyielding, “No’s,” Tess flushed with a decades-old memory of her body denting the cheap gym locker as the rugby co-captain slammed her in the changing room.
Miguel, despondent, arrived at the bland two-story where just three stools served an unimpressive counter.
He landed at one precisely as Yusef, a Russian 19-year-old, arrived at another. Notebook in hand, he smiled with an eagerness that matched Miguel’s desperation speaking to the thin-lipped, gaunt man behind the counter.
Yusef tried to decode their intense conversation, noticing Miguel melt each time a ”Si” was bestowed. Finished, the man rummaged under the counter and Yusef boldly moved beside Miguel. He presented a page from his notebook; a hand-drawn map of their very spot. In English, Yusef proudly said, “Only place—El Injerto coffee.”
Miguel turned his weary eyes to the teen as two full cups were placed in front of them. Grabbing Yusef’s kindred hand, he sighed and exhaled, “Si.”