First Day

Little did I know, in the morning that, this will be the last time to see daylight. I was bought with several other sisters, loaded in a big car, and after some time placed proudly on a table, near a windowed wall.

I took advantage of the apparent silence to look around. The room was big with many other tables, but from what I could see I was the only coffee maker around.

The chatting bunch of mugs told me all I needed to know about the place. "The Agency," and I was really anxious to know the people who work there.

Minutes passed and all kinds of people came over to taste the coffee, some took the mugs to their desks and some enjoyed it near me talking with other people.

Suddenly the two ladies who were talking earlier about some fashion boutique, almost dropped their mugs.

"Oh, Maria look, here comes Scarecrow! Geez, I’ve worked here for 5 years now, and every time I see him, I hardly can breath."

"You are right Lisa, the man is drop dead gorgeous. These are sad times for us, because it seems that he's off market. He is spending all his time with his partner Mrs. King, from what I heard around. Ms. Desmond thinks the same, I heard her complaining about that. I remember the days when he was present more in the steno pool then here in the bullpen. Remember how often, Mr. Melrose called him at our phone? Oh and Lee's playful wink. “Bye ladies, duty calls, see you later!” made our hearts race, especially for the one of us, who had A LATER, with him." Now if we want to see him, we must come over here."

All these words, made me curious to see the man they were talking about. Two voices floated from the door, one cheerful and sweet the other husky and low, "Good morning ladies!"

The owner of the husky voice approached the table, and I had to agree with the women’s opinion - he was handsome, I saw many men while waiting on the shop shelf to be bought.

What was clear, even for me, was the fact that his eyes were only for the lady, who came with him. She stopped for a while to speak with Lisa, and his eyes were glued to her figure.

I'm sure it would very interesting to work here, I can't wait to hear all the stories the mugs and sugar bowl know, but now I have to go back to the coffee-brewing, more people approach the table. See you later!

I saw her walk towards me. She was wearing a pair of faded denim jeans, a t-shirt and boots. She looked at me with her big brown eyes and smiled—that smile she reserved for only me. Oh yeah, I knew what she wanted. She reached behind me, her long lengthy fingers running down my back. Oh man, did this woman know how to turn me on. Electricity seemed to pass through me. Soon I was hot. I was scorching hot; glass was steaming, and damp from my own perspiration; I was percolating. I knew she would soon enjoy me.

'I am feeling very empty inside. It's such a sad and lonely feeling.
Mrs. King used to visit me early in the day and fill me with a robust
feeling. But she hasn't been around here as much as she used to be.'

'The filters keep me company, but many of those friends have been
reassigned. I saw the quartermaster himself taking them to their new
destination. Somewhere called the Q Bureau.'

end

"Oh my gosh, he's coming this way!" The coffee pot said to the
styrofoam cups.

"And he's going to pick me first."

"He always picks you up first, don't be in such a rush to be in his
hands."

"Yeah, I can't wait till he puts his lips on me."

Lee walked over to the coffee pot and thought he heard voices. He
looked around the bullpen and saw that everyone was working. He
started pouring the coffee into the cup.

"Weeeeee, here I come."

Lee stopped pouring and looked around again, shaking his head he
continued pouring. He put the coffee pot back where it was.

"Thanks Scarecrow. I just love how your hands feel around my
handle."

Lee looked toward the coffee pot "Naw, coffee pots don't talk."

"Wanna make a bet."

Lee walked toward Billy's office. "Wait till Pfaff hears about this
one. He'll think I've really gone crazy, talking coffee pots, ha."

Big News

Big News!

Hey guys it is me again, your favorite coffee maker!

Three days ago Lee's favorite mug, from downstairs told me
something, that nobody knows yet.

Yes, yes Blue Leader I know all about Need to Know and National
Security, but this isn't really a secret, I mean it is now but not
for too long.

Back to the story then, one morning Lee came down alone. From the
day he put a second desk in the Q bureau -all that I heard from the
conversations around-- there were few days he or Amanda came
alone in the bullpen.

He took his favorite, red mug, pressed my buttons a few times, more
then needed, but I could see he was preoccupied so I forgave him. My
coffee filled the mug, he added the cream, all without watching what
he was doing, his eyes were glued on the glass doors, it was clear.
He was looking for Amanda!

I saw the light in his eyes, and I knew she was near. Amanda
approached my table too, took a mug and filled it with the best coffee in
The Agency -well if no one praises me, I can do it my self -I make
the best coffee around.

Lee's eyes were a big question mark, and seeing Amanda's smile and
little nod it was like the world wasn't big enough for his joy, she
took a step forward and whispered something to him and Lee without
to loose put his mug down, take her too and almost dragged Amanda
toward the elevator.

I was very curious and seeing that the others mugs didn't pay
attention I asked the red mug if she knew what was that.

Looking around she whispered back that it seems that in six month
Scarecrow will be a daddy!

I was happy, I knew telling the other mugs wasn't a good idea, the
bunch was too chatty, so I choose to tell you!

I hope you will keep the secret, until the proud parents will tell
the world their big news.

Bye for now!

++++

Sally Bench sat in the garden and listened to her brother Charlie
carry on a silly conversation with the plants standing beside him.
She would have liked to join them, but other, more pressing matters
cluttered her mind.

Not too long ago, the heavyset man with the silly hair had a chilling
conversation with a dark-haired man. She didn't like him at all.
Something about him made her cement crawl.

If only there were some way to tell what she'd overheard. Well, there
wasn't, so she'd just have to hope for the best.

And speaking of the best, the new Captain just walked into the
garden. He was one fine specimen of a humanoid, and just being in the
same room as he really made her marble sweat. Sally hoped he'd rest
that cute tush on her.

Her wish was granted when he slowly lowered onto her. She could tell
he was troubled. He'd slumped forward, propped his elbows on his
knees, and rested his head in his hands.

Sally wondered what was bothering him. Futilely she wished she could
do something to ease his problems.

Suddenly, she felt him shift. He sat straighter, his body just felt
lighter to Sally. The reason for his change in attitude became clear
to Sally when she felt another, slight weight rest on her.

It was the pretty woman with the long dark hair, and strange ring
around her head. Sally's concrete heart lifted. If anyone could cheer
up the sexy captain, it was this woman. Now, if only they could stop
those awful men from earlier.

End

"Okay, I know that we've had a lot of knew guys . . . and gals join
us in the last couple of weeks so I'm going to give you all the run
down of how things work around here." Mr. Coffee glanced at the row
of new coffee mugs then at the clock on the wall across the bullpen.

"We have ten minutes before the morning shift comes in and it will
get busy around here, so lets get this meeting to order. As you
might have noticed, we have been a lot busier around here since Mrs.
King came on board. Mostly thanks to her home baked goodies that she
brings and sets right here on our table."

"The men seem to hang around our table much more drinking our coffee
while they snack. Watch out for Agent Beaman, he tends to be a bit
clumsy and, not to scare you, but has been known to knock a coffee
cup onto the floor. Sadly, we have lost several in our ranks to his
clumsiness. You might hear Mr. Melrose bellow from time to time from
his office, but he is known for being gentle with his coffee mugs.
You will most likely have a donut dunked in you and savored in his
office. Agent Desmond will leave lipstick on your rim, usually a
shade of red. She tends to hang around when there is something
chocolate joining us at the table."

He reminded himself to keep a close eye on the new blue striped mug,
he was spending more time scooting closer to the lavender mug
throughout the lecture instead of listening.

"In past months, I had to spend a large amount of time warning you
about Agent Stetson, but recently, I believe also due to Mrs. Kings
presence, he has mellowed greatly. He used to stagger in late; his
clothes disheveled, with dark circles under his eyes almost every
morning, grab the nearest mug and down his coffee while Mr. Melrose
yelled at him to get into the morning meeting."

Mr. Coffee stopped as the lights began to flicker. "Okay, people.
That is the signal of a new day. Be safe out there." He looked
around then sighed. "Blue, get back in line. You know the first
rule around here. Always get back in the same position you were left
in the night before!" He's going to be trouble.

Ah, it was going to be a good day. Mrs. King walked up with a plate
full of cookies and started the coffee. Definitely a good day was
beginning. She made the best coffee, and her cookies were sure to
bring many visitors to their side of the bullpen.

Hmf. They call themselves spies, and they have no clue what we do
when they aren't around.

I, Coffee Maker

I've seen some exciting things in this place, sure. In the fifteen
years that I've been here I've seen so many things—shootouts, fist
fights, explosions, even an attempted kidnapping or two—the sort of
stuff that most of my kind never have the opportunity to see. If
someone ever asked me to write my memoirs, I bet they'd be made into a
blockbuster movie. Look out Oscars, here I come!

But since I'm only a coffee maker, so no one ever asks me anything.
And I've never even seen any movies. The closest I ever get is reading
about them in the newspapers that people are looking at when they come
over to get their daily cup of coffee.

As you've probably gathered, life in this office—the people call it a
`bullpen' for some strange reason—is hardly typical. But even I, Mr.
Coffee, was surprised by what I saw tonight. The doors to the bullpen
opened and a blond woman—the one they called Francine—entered. In her
arms, Francine was holding a toddler. It was strange to see Francine
doing that—she'd never struck me as being the child-friendly type. I
recalled having seen this child only the night before- asleep in the
arms of Mr. Stetson, also called Scarecrow. I liked the
Stetsons-especially Mrs. Stetson, who was in the habit of bringing
cakes and brownies into the bullpen and sitting them right next to me.

The child was wearing a strange outfit tonight- it was orange and
puffy. A matching orange and green hat was perched upon her blond
curls and in her chubby hands she held a plastic bag. She looked
around the office with wide brown eyes, her head turning every which way.

"What's that?" she said, pointing at me.

"That's a coffee maker, Jenna," Francine said.

"See it?" Jenna asked, reaching out her hand towards me and letting
go of the bag she held. "Pease?" Francine grabbed the bag before it
hit the floor.

"No," she said. "It's hot-don't touch."

"Hot," Jenna said, waving one hand as she spoke. "Ouch."

"That's right," Francine said. "Ouch."

This was one of the times where I really wished I could say something
in my defense; I was actually a little bit steamed. I never thought of
myself as a thing that makes people go `ouch'-though I guess that if
people aren't careful about something hot like me anything could
happen. Maybe toddlers are too young to drink my coffee.

As steamy as I was, the next voice I heard caused me to feel a little
chill. He picked up my pot, tipping some of my coffee into his black
mug. Yuck, I thought. Even his fingers were cold.

"And just who is this, Blondie?" Dr. Smyth said. "She looks a little
short to be on the Agency payroll."

"This is Jenna Stetson," Francine said.

"Little Scarecrow, eh?" Dr. Smyth said, taking a sip and putting his
mug back down on the table. "Well well well-boys and girls come out
to play. You do realize that this is an Intelligence Agency,
Desmond-not a crèche. 'kay?"

" `kay!" Jenna said. Dr. Smyth gave the toddler a look I'd seen
before. It made most Agents here quail and reach for me to pour
another cup. Jenna, however, didn't seem to be fazed.

"Well since her parents are on a mission for this Agency," Francine
said. "Doesn't that place her under our protection?"

"That's a stretch, but I suppose I'll let it slide just this once,"
Dr. Smyth said. "What's with the bag—Trick or treat?"

"Twick or Tweat!" Jenna said. At that moment there was a ringing
sound.

"Excuse me," Francine said, pulling out her cell phone. "Billy? Yes
of course I'm still in the building. She what?" There was a pause.
"That's the last time I hire an assistant Billy-I'll be there right
away—Why can't Jenna be there?" Francine sighed. "No, I'll think of
something-be there in just a minute."

Francine turned to Dr. Smyth. "Can you take Jenna for a moment? Billy
wants me in his office to clear up an accounting problem."

"Well I-" it was the first time I'd seen Dr. Smyth at a loss for
words. Francine thrust the toddler and the plastic bag towards him and
left. Personally I didn't think he was the best choice for childcare
but what do I know-I just make coffee. Jenna and Dr. Smyth were quiet
for a minute, looking at each other.

"What's that?" Jenna said, pointing towards the mug right in front of
me on my table.

"That's mine," Dr. Smyth said.

"Mine?" Jenna said.

"No, mine." Dr. Smyth said.

"Hot?" Jenna asked.

"Very," Dr. Smyth said.

"Ouch," Jenna said.

"Correct-a-mundo, Jenna."

"Wect-a-mundo?" Jenna said.

"Close enough," Dr. Smyth said, reaching into a nearby bowl and
dropping a wrapped candy into the plastic bag. "Here, have a candy on
me." .

In the distance I could hear a familiar-sounding bellow-loud enough to
be heard through the entire bullpen:

"You left my Goddaughter with who??"

I watched as Francine came running up.

"Thank you," she said breathlessly, taking Jenna and the bag from Dr.
Smyth's grasp.

"Why don't we get you home, Jenna?" Francine said. "That's enough
trick-or-treating for tonight."

Jenna smiled. "Wect-a mundo, blondie," she said.

'I have heard it said that caffeine causes an adverse affect on
somebody. That's no excuse to be shoved or slammed around!

Wait a second . . .Mr. Melrose is staggering.

His eyes look dazed.

I have never seen my coffee make anybody act like that!

The telephone called him. He's leaving! I hope that he asks Stetson
for help. The Scarecrow will know what to do!'

Hello again.

First I want to ask you to keep a moment of silence for the blue
mug, the poor thing was broken today by the hand of the blonde agent
named Francine.

I saw her making her way straight to my table with fire in her eyes,
and I was afraid on the spot. I saw the same fire in Dr Smyth's eyes
one day when Scarecrow decided to cross his path and after that Lee
was sent overseas for a three month assignment.

Francine was here, and the first mug she grabbed was the little blue
one. Maybe it was my fault too, the coffee wasn't ready so the blond
began hitting the table with it, while mumbling angry.

"How he dare! Oh Scarecrow, just wait, I will get you and soon!
It wasn't enough that I had to be a maid, Me, Francine Desmond, A
MAID, and work with Amanda King. NO! It wasn't enough that I had to
clean a bathroom, he had to gave me a feather duster as gift!
OHHHHHHH and Billy, why did he have to gave me that assignment?
He could find an embassy party or some foreign king to protect."

Her angry tone made me hurry, because I saw that the poor mug
wouldn't last and CRASH! A lot of blue parts remain from it.

Every ones eyes darted toward my table to see what happened, but
Francine kept her cool facade, took another mug, filled it with coffee
and took it to her desk.

I really hope that Lee will be ok, from what I heard Francine can be
merciless.

The midnight shift went on their break and I knew as soon as the last
person exited the mugs would be clamoring for more stories. I almost
wished I hadn't begun to tell them tales of my life in my other home.

I guess I shouldn't mind though, they told me all about the
adventures in the Bullpen that they'd seen before I'd been moved
here. Tit for tat.

I'm glad I wasn't just thrown out into the trash, too old to be of
any use. That had almost been my fate. When the brunette had
brought in the new coffee maker I'd cringed, shivered and begun to
leak tears. I'd been replaced. The man had said because the one in
a place called the Bullpen had gone on the fritz, that he'd bring me
there. I still had life left in me and coffee makers like me weren't
made anymore. Now, I reside in the Bullpen, a center of activity in
the world of espionage. To top it off I still get to see my old
owner.

My old owner. Those were the stories the mugs wanted to hear about.
His life. His exploits. I had to explain that I didn't get to see a
lot living in the kitchen. But sometimes I'd get an eyeful.

Every weekend a different woman would enter and turn me on. The man
liked a lot of variety. I swear some of those women weren't very
gifted in the brains department. Who needed brains when they had
bodies like that? Once in a while, I'd be treated to a show of
erotic delight. In fact, a few times I feared I'd be pushed off the
counter or into the sink.

There was one brunette though who seemed to be around more than the
others. I began to see her more and more often. She liked to
complain about items left in the fridge. Fridge didn't like that and
tried to tell her he had no control over what the man put inside
him. That if the man wanted to grow moldy things it wasn't up to him
to say no.

The man called her Amanda and she called him Lee or Scarecrow. He
didn't care to have her around much, but he didn't try to stop her
either. She always made sure the kitchen was sparkling. I have to
admit, it did look and smell better after she'd leave. She liked to
spray something called air freshener. I'm partial to vanilla I found
out.

Another brunette was the one who'd replaced me. I didn't like her,
but she reminded me of the nice Amanda. I was never so happy to find
out after my move that Amanda seemed to be spending more and more
time with Lee. They were always together it seemed and I saw them
give each other looks when they thought the other wasn't watching.

"They're gone," the pink mug said. "Now tell us about the other
brunette. The bad one."

Well, I guess I'm going to tell the story about how Lee accidentally
called this Leslie person by Amanda's name and how I heard her storm
out of the apartment. She slammed the door so hard I could feel the
vibrations in the countertop.

"Okay everyone gather round. One day Leslie wanted to surprise Lee
with a dinner . . .