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Back in the day of waking sleepy at 7:30am on a saturday to catch Dungeons and Dragons & the Smurfs at Grandaddy's and Mimi's house, there was a mystical and powerful chalice that the patriarch of the house used to wield. It was the glorious Nickel Cup from the land of What-A-Burger! Now this cup went beyond what typical mugs of that day did. It guaranteed that no matter the time of day, winter or summer...you could walk into any of the orange and white's establishments A-Frame buildings and procure a fresh piping hot cup of Coffee for only a nickel. Simply by purchasing a 5 dollar mug, you were locked for life in the ability to drink the Christian crack whenever and wherever you wanted for the menial cost of just 5 little Jeffersons. Oh Happy Day! And let me tell you Grandaddy was a coffee drinking fool! He has since switched to various teas...at any rate, It was awesome, he constantly smelled of coffee (to which I am sure some of you are sicked out by that), however it was one of those smells that you automatically associate as home, good, innocent. I miss saturdays. Now the days of the Nickel Cup has come and gone. I am not sure if they now sell a quarter cup or a 99 cent cup or what, but oh to have the nickel cup back now, in the days of corporate coffee. Starbucks has become our new bastion of Postmodern coolness...oh yeah and they serve coffee too! I wonder if we really realize how much we spend on a cup now. My typical faire is of course the grande Carmel Macchiato. Now this black gold is a choice selection, you are lulled into a creamy carmel sugar high that makes you lose all ability to think rationally. You return every morning and evening to purchase it without regard to the cost of $3.24 each time you enter the ultra hip, obscure music playing, earth toned altar to the post-millenial lifestyle. Before too long you find yourself digging in couch cushions, and that place between the frame and the seat of your car where the occasional quarter falls in order to feed your ever-growing addiction. Soon after you resort to petty theivery of the family change stash. Before you know it you have hit rock bottom and are now asking family and friends to fuel your habit by purchasing gift cards for any small occasion (birthday, Christmas, Canadian boxing day). Thats it, you are hooked, like grandaddy you smell of coffee, but not the pure coffee, it is the mix of over pressed beans and rotting heavy cream and sugar. Its not innocent, its not home....its simply morning coffee breath. SO here is my question/hypothesis. Do the mythical cups of yore still exist? Are there any still out there, and do they carry the same authority as they once did...to demand a cup of coffee for only a nickel. Can I get it on Ebay? Because if I could the world would fall in line. All would be well. My bank account would thank me and my veins would once again pulse with the fury of the magic juice! Oh to return to home. To smell grandaddy's coffee breath and feel safe, and innocent. Isn't that the innocence that we all wish to return to. You know the kind before the cost got too high? Before the simplicity was lost and the best place to be was home? I should think so... Oh well on to Starbucks. |