"Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" second response

"Drinking Coffee Elsewhere" By Z.Z. Packer was an excellent, fast paced story. I Truly felt the anxiety of the first week of college, the nervous awkwardness of trying to fit in, and hoping not to be left out. One particular quote stood out to me the most, when Dr. Raeburn tells our narrator that "you're pretending"(p.142). He then goes on to say the professional term for it is denial, as she sits there stunned by this accusation she kind of goes blank only focusing on the one word "pretending". "I'd hooked on that one word pretending. Dr. Raeburn would never realize that pretending is what had got me this far", she goes on to describe how she felt on the morning of her mothers funeral, that she was given milk to ease her stomach, and how she imagined that it was coffee "I imagined that I was drinking coffee elsewhere". We get a good look into our narrators character with this statement. I remember having similar feelings of uneasiness on the morning of my own mothers funeral, and how I wished that I could be "elsewhere" but I don't think it was coffee that I was longing to drink. I had to push on and kind of pretend that everything was all right, and now almost a year later I still sometimes feel like I am still pretending, pretending that my mother is elsewhere, not in a cold grave but perhaps on a warm beach, an extended vacation. Sometimes it is the pretending that gets us through the day.

In speaking in tongues a comment need to be made about a particular passage that stood out to me. "Dezi kissed her cheek... it was the first time a male had kissed her... she had always imagined that when someone kissed her, her eyes would be closed in anticipation, she would be waiting to receive the kiss" Knowing the circumstances of this scene takes away from how truly romantic this thought that Tea is having at this moment. I reminded me of my first kiss and how I thought it would be perfect, eyes closed, music playing, me saying something romantic, but in reality it was nothing like that. In fact I remember the first one, quick and awkward, and then it was over. Innocence lost forever in a passionate kiss in a dark closet at my neighbors birthday party.

posted by Michael Clark