He was coming out of the laboratory and still hadn't opened the envelope with the results of the analysis. He preferred to get home, and rest from the hustle and bustle of the street, the one that disturbed him every time he went out because the heat wave was still having its toxic effect. He was already thinking of taking a bath and enjoying his huge bowl of steaming coffee with a smell that sent him to the clouds. He had to face Meghan's storm of questions, though. He'd see how he evaded them for at least a few hours.

— What did the doctor say? Did he read your labs? —asked his wife when she felt him coming in.

Thomas's footsteps on the wooden stairs leading to the room were quick and loud, and they were quickly lost. She, letting go of the kitchen chores, came up behind him and continued to harass him with questions.

— Now, woman! Let me get to the house. We'll talk now, —the man replied in a curt tone, and locked himself in the bathroom.

Within the hour, he appeared in the kitchen and only said:

— Serve me a coffee, please.

She served it to him as he liked it, well loaded and in a very large mug. He used to drink two in a row. It was his favorite drink. He could go the whole day without drinking water, but he never missed his coffee.

As he savored his drink and delighted in its smell, she repeated the same questions she had asked him an hour ago:

— What did Dr. Thomas tell you?
— Nothing, woman, I haven't brought him the results yet. I was very tired and I came straight here. I'll leave them in his office in a little while, —he answered with a bored tone.
— It bothers me that you are playing with this as if it were unimportant. You need to know why you're having these chest pains and fainting, —Meghan insisted— in fact, I'm going to go with you.

The nurse showed them into the office after a couple of hours in the waiting room. She looked her husband straight in the eyes, she loved him like the first day and wouldn't know what to do if she lost him, but he was very careless with his health, he took everything lightly.

He handed the envelope to the doctor with trembling hand, and after the doctor took a deep look at it, he raised his eyes to both of them and said:

— Well, your health is quite compromised, the levels are very altered, so it's time to take care of yourself and eliminate some excesses. No alcoholic beverages, no fats, no discomfort, and no overwork... Ah! And coffee consumption must be reduced by 75%. Just a cup of coffee a day to see how you do, and in a month, you have to repeat the tests.

At the mention of the coffee restriction measures, Thomas jumped as if he had a spring in his seat. He refuted the doctor:

— What? No, doctor, that's impossible! I can't go through the day with so little coffee, I die without it.
— Well, my friend, you can also die from it, if you don't follow these recommendations.

Arriving at the house, he started banging on things and went upstairs to his room and slammed the door shut. Meghan didn't dare cross a single word with him at that moment, preferring to wait for his bad mood to subside. She sat down on a kitchen bench to make a list of the meals she needed for her husband's diet.

Thomas went down to the kitchen and said to her slowly:

— Pour me a coffee, please.

She, already putting the doctor's suggestions into practice, poured the coffee in a small cup, and went on with what she was doing.

He looked at the container with the small portion of coffee and then looked up at his wife, saying:

— What is this? I want my coffee mug, not this almost empty cup.
— Thomas, remember what the doctor told you, —his wife said as calmly as possible.
— I don't care what that doctor said, he is not going to change my life from one day to the next, —said Thomas annoyed.
— But he only asked you to lower your consumption, —Meghan insisted, trying to reassure him.
— I will not do it, if you want to eliminate everything else from my diet, but I will not stop drinking coffee, first I would rather die than give up my coffee, —were the last words of Thomas, who with one swipe flipped the small cup over, spilling its contents on the table, and leaving the house in a rage.

Before the month was up, Thomas' tests had to be repeated because his blood pressure remained high and his chest pains continued. While in his office, he fainted and his wife was called from the emergency room to tell her that he was confined.

— Ma'am, I warned you what would happen if your husband didn't cut down on his coffee, —the doctor told Meghan.
— I know doctor, but there was no way to avoid it, he even said that he would die first before giving up coffee, — the woman commented to the doctor.
— Let's hope that's not the case, —the doctor replied with a hint of disappointment.
— Doctor, doctor! The patient in 2 had a cardiac arrest, —a nurse came in shouting.

A few minutes later the doctor came out and told Meghan:

— I'm so sorry ma'am, your husband just passed away.

Image source: All images are from my personal gallery.