Ada and the Coffee

   The day started as a Wednesday. No different than yesterday, no different than last Wednesday, no different even than Sunday. Yes, for Archibald Dungary, this was a routine day.
    Step 1: Wake up, get out of bed. Heat the coffeepot in preparation for the morning coffee. A few minutes go by. Dungary glances at the door, suddenly quite nervous. Then, on cue, he looks at a picture of a terribly beautiful woman. Then, Dungary smiles. And so on.
   End of step 1, begin step 2. And so on.
   A whistling. The coffee was ready. Dungary poured himself a cup of coffee, then placed his mug in front of the picture to cool while he returned to his closet for one of his 7 blue work shirts. On his way out, Dungary gave a playful push to his rocking chair. It rocked and rocked. Upon returning to the kitchen, Dungary started to look quite nervous indeed. He shot a glance back to the picture for comfort, but his eyes fell on his mug. The mug was in the way, and Dungary could not see the picture. Dungary did not like that.
   "You again!" he said to the mug, rather sternly.
   The mug remained silent.
   Dungary spoke again, angrier this time. "Why ... could you give me a minute to not be nervous Muggy? You're always in the way!"
   The mug stood a little prouder.
   "You think you're tough, do you, Dr. Mugsalot?" Dungary rushed the mug and lifted it in the air. For one brief moment, Dungary considered pouring out the coffee. He almost found his redemption. Almost, but before he could, he glanced at the picture of the woman, and screamed. He rushed back to his rocking chair and began pleading to the picture, mug in hand, "Please, Ada, you caught me in the wrong place at the wrong time! I was about to pour ... believe me!"
   The picture watched.
   "You said I should be fine. I was. You said that if it bothered me, it would rip me to shreds. It does."
   The picture just watched.
   "Ada, talk to me. Whatever I called you, it was just a name. It was just a name, Ada! Ada, now that's a beautiful name ... there must be a better way to tear a whole apart, Ada. Ada?"
   Ada just watched Dungary slip away.
   Dungary leaned back in his chair and, on cue, the chair leaned away. Dungary grabbed his mug and almost threw it at Ada. His second chance at redemption. Instead, he took a sip of coffee, and felt a lot better. He remembered he didn't care about Ada anymore. Dungary smiled, and didn't look at Ada for the rest of the day. He told his mug, "For a little while, you'll stay right here." He didn't give Ada another thought. Dungary went to bed, somewhat happy. It was just a Wednesday, and tomorrow would be different.