"I have the whole day to myself" Rita mumbled as she stepped out of the bathroom. She couldn't help but wonder what was at the top of the list for her. Few minutes into her thinking, her phone rang. It was Joan, her best friend.
Source
"Hello J-girl" she replied in a high spirit.
"Hello, hello Rita. Rita, can you hear me?" Joan sounded really worried.
"Is everything okay? I can hear you clearly"
"Great. I'd love for you to immediately come over to my place Riri. It's a very serious issue and I really need you".
"Okay. Give me a few minutes, I will be with you shortly" Rita replied frantically.
Whenever Joan sounded that way, something serious was usually wrong somewhere. Without any form of hesitation, Rita put on her signature clothes–a pair of joggers, a shirt and a pair of crocs. In a haste, she bolted out of her house and headed straight for Joan's.
On arrival, Joan opened the door and hurriedly ushered her into the apartment.
"I'm so happy you could make it on such short notice Riri. I'm so sad" Joan said and she beckoned Rita to have a seat.
"Would you like anything? Tea? Coffee?" Joan asked.
"Girl! Are you this sad? How would you forget that I'm a staunch coffee lover?"
"My bad Riri, let me get you a cup of your favourite beverage before I start narrating my plight" Joan said. At least she didn't lose her courtesy.
A few minutes later, Joan returned with a cup of steaming hot coffee.
"A cup of coffee for my favourite girl" she said, pointing the cup in Rita's direction.
"I wonder how you still manage to uphold your courtesy in times when you're obviously looking so devastated." Rita smiled "thank you for this cup of coffee. Now sit beside me and tell me everything" Rita said.
Joan plunged on the cushion bedside Rita.
"My boss just fired me for something I didn't do. Now, I feel so bad" she said.
"Your boss did what?" Rita asked after taking a few sips of her coffee.
"He claimed that I had somehow exposed company secrets and now the company was in a bad place"
"That's just hilarious. How is that even believable? You barely talk to humans. Last I checked, you didn't like speaking with anyone, except myself, so how?"
"I still do not have any idea, I tried enquiring but he dismissed….." Joan's eyes widened in agony. She immediately ran back to her kitchen like she had forgotten something on fire.
"Is everything okay J-girl" Rita, who was feeling very uncomfortable, asked. Rita's eyes started twitching. It felt like her mind was playing games on her. Joan ran back to the living room in a haste, knelt in front of Rita and said,
"Listen to me Riri. I mistakenly served you coffee infused with hallucinogenic mushrooms. My neighbour asked me to hold on to some of the coffee for him as he didn't want his addict friends to finish it. I kept it with my coffee on the shelf and mistakenly served it to you. I'm so sorry" Joan said, almost in tears.
"Coffee..coffee with what now?" Rita asked, still trying to comprehend what was going on. It felt like she was on cloud nine.
"What I'm going to do now is take off your shoes and allow you to rest. I just contacted my neighbour and he said you would be okay after a proper nap. Rita? Rita?"
Rita was fast asleep. She woke up a few hours later to the sobbing figure of Joan.
"Joan?.." she called out weakly.
"Rita! Oh my goodness, you're okay. I was so worried."
"I must have passed out."
"Yes, the effect of the coffee infused with hallucinogenic mushrooms."
"The what now?"
"I explained everything to you J-girl. The coffee, my neighbour, the effect?"
"Ohhhh. Right"
"I'm so happy you're better now. You started saying a lot of weird stuff like you saw two other people in the house and that you could touch the sun".
"I said all those?" Rita asked.
"You bet you did".
They both burst into laughter.
"Yes, least I forget about your boss.."
"That story can wait. I'd tell you about it later". Joan moved close to Rita and snuggled up on her lap.
"You would be fine".Rita reassured.
Never in Rita's wildest dreams did she think she would taste coffee infused with hallucinogenic mushrooms and that too at her religious best friend's house. What an eventful day it was.
Love, Wongi ✨