Chronicle of an announced disaster

“Wake up, Ruben!”

Loud banging against the bedroom door woke him with a start, his disoriented gaze darting around in search of apparent danger, finding himself alone lying on his bed. He quickly got up, opening the door wide to be pushed inside, listening to complaints that he did not understand.

"I swear, I'm about to explode, I can't take it anymore, I need your help."

"Wait a second, Juliet, can you explain to me what's going on?"

"There's no coffee!" She shouted back.

Ruben stared at her for a second, processing the information, then began to laugh out loud.

"I'm serious, you stupid!"

"Julieta, you're my sister and I love you, but really? You're making a big deal out of this because there's no coffee?"

"Sure! If you had kids you'd understand what I'm talking about. I have three children, Ruben, three children, they are little kids, do you think Mariana and I will be able to resist more than two hours without coffee? It's impossible, we need coffee."

"Okay, that's fine. I think you are exaggerating a little, first try to calm down..."

"Don't tell me to calm down!"

Raising both hands, Ruben tried to calm her down.

"It's okay, it's okay, where's Mariana?"

"Watching the kids in the room, we'll have a couple of hours before they wake up."

"Okay... go with her, wait for me in your room, I'll go see if I can get some coffee for you guys, I don't think it's that bad. I told you to switch to tea long ago."

"If I tell you what I want to answer..."

Source

Not wanting to give him a chance to insult him, Ruben practically ran out of the room, moving down the wide hallway. On his way to one of the dining areas of the cruise ship, he began to notice that the atmosphere was somewhat tense, with people arguing with each other. Confused, he approached one of the cruise ship staff members who were fixing a table.

"Excuse me, can I ask you a question?"

Making a sound of frustration, the staff member turned his head to give him a big smile and a nod.

"Where can I order two cups of coffee?"

“Nice try mate, we are all looking for coffee, but there is none. But don't worry, if someone finds coffee you'll know about it because chances are a fight will break out over it.”

"Frederick, don't say that to the passenger!" The scolding came from a female staff member who had arrived at his side, rushing to give Ruben a smile. "We are working as fast as we can to meet the expectations of our dear passengers."

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say, Eloise." Frederick grumbled, walking away.

Once he was far enough away, Ruben moved a little closer to Eloise, whispering his pleas.

"Look, I'm sorry if I seem pushy and too annoying but my sister and her wife are about to have a nervous breakdown, they have three kids, they're not going to last more than two hours without some coffee running through their veins, they're addicts, I know, it's bad, but if I don't do something to help them the next few hours of my life are going to become a living hell for me too."

Covering her mouth with one hand to try to keep from giggling, the young woman looked in all directions and motioned for Ruben to follow her. Although somewhat puzzled, he didn't think to ask any questions and simply followed her footsteps to what appeared to be one of the cruise ship's kitchens.

"Honestly we shouldn't be doing this, but my supervisor is a godsend. What Frederick said is true, in theory there is no coffee, the passengers have consumed so much these days that they used up the stock ahead of schedule, I guess it has something to do with us breaking records for children on board." She joked. "But I know there must be a package hidden over here, my brother is a cook here and like your sister and sister-in-law he is a coffee addict."

"I don't know what they see in coffee, tea is better."

"Isn't it?" Replied Eloise enthusiastically. "There you are!"

Displaying the packet of coffee with a smile of triumph, the woman approached over to the coffee machine, preparing to brew a couple of cups.

Before he could thank her, shouts were heard from outside.

"It's unacceptable that they don't have coffee on this damn cruise ship!"

Sharing a surprised look, Ruben and Eloise laughed together.

"This is getting out of hand." Ruben commented.

"I'll put your coffees in disposable cups and put them in a paper bag so no one can see what's inside, I fear for your safety."

True to her word, she did just that before handing him the bag.

"Really, thank you so much for helping me, I promise to repay you."

Eloise opened her mouth to complain but other shouts outside stopped her.

"Let go of me, I want to talk to the supervisor!"

"I'd better go help with whatever's going on out there. Go to your sister and sister-in-law, they're probably climbing the walls waiting for their coffee."

When they both left, there was a woman trying to be stopped by three cruise ship staff members, one of them with a radio in her hand desperately calling security. Ruben had intentions of staying, worried about Eloise, but from the way she had approached the situation he knew she would have everything under control.

The complaints of various passengers who crossed his path on his way to his sister's room motivated by the lack of coffee made him hurry his pace, so much so that in less than two minutes he was already knocking on the door and did not take long to enter pushing his sister-in-law, giving her the paper bag.

"Never say that I have not sacrificed for you."

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#STB Creative Writing Prompt 30