Drinking Coffee Elsewhere

It’s New Year’s Eve, 1961, and Doris Yates is in the church sanctuary, wondering if the Rapture will really come that night as she has been told. Doris thinks about the world outside, which she sees on the televisions on sale in Stutz’s Fine Appliances and Televisions, where people fighting for civil rights are being attacked at lunch counters. Doris’s mother, Bernice, was supposed to clean the church, but Doris is cleaning instead. Bernice cleans for the Bermans, a Jewish family, and they won’t let her drive her car because it’s too loud, so Bernice must walk an extra mile and wait for Doris’s father, Edgar, to pick her up. Doris wants to take part in the current protests and even tried to call the NAACP to find out if she was old enough to join. However, Reverend Sykes at the church told her that “saints didn’t go to marches” because they would be a distraction from God (236).

The service that night lasts until one o’clock in the morning, as the participants wait and expect the Rapture to occur. The date had been predicted by the Pentecostal Assemblies of the World, although they first believed it was a day in 1955 and chalked it up to miscalculation when the date came and went. Doris is surprised to see that her mother has shown up to the service and brought Olivia Berman, the daughter of the Jewish family who employs her. Olivia, who is white with red hair, stands out. Doris approaches her mother and Olivia, and Bernice tells Doris that Olivia will be attending the same public school as Doris. Doris is horrified when Olivia refers to Bernice by her first name, something almost no one dares to do. Olivia explains that she was kicked out of her old school, adding, “I’m in need of some saving myself, that’s why I came here tonight” (241). Furthermore, Olivia now prefers to be called Livia. Livia offers to drive the family home, but Bernice turns her down.

Livia shows up in Doris’s honor’s history class, where Doris is the only African American. Livia is overdressed in a pillbox hat. She approaches Doris as if they are good friends, much to Doris’s embarrassment, as Doris prefers to remain quiet and unnoticed. Before she saw Livia at the church, Doris hadn’t seen her in years, and Doris remembers that her mother said that Livia had spent time in a mental hospital. After class, Livia finds her to complain about the teacher. Doris is annoyed with Livia’s familiarity and tells her not to speak to her in class. Livia is surprised, asserting that she was only trying to be nice since it doesn’t seem like anyone speaks to Doris. Doris mentions church, and Livia comments, “I don’t think Reverend Sykes lets you do the things you want” (245). This comment makes Doris angry, and she insults Livia’s hat before walking away.

At home, Doris starts making dinner. She listens to the radio as the announcer talks about the protests, becoming angry at the announcer’s obvious vitriol. Doris pretends that she needs to work on a school assignment and goes to visit Mr. Stutz at the television store. He’s Lithuanian and enjoys Doris’s company, and they watch television. Doris tells him that she wants to take part in a sit-in. He’s confused at first and then argues that she is a nice girl who shouldn’t subject herself to the abuse that the protestors are receiving. Additionally, as a business owner, Mr. Stutz worries that desegregation will make his black customers go to black-owned stores. A week later, Doris goes to see Reverend Sykes. She brings up the idea of joining a protest again, and he dissuades her. He criticizes Martin Luther King and churches that support the protests, and Doris pointedly reminds him of the Rapture that didn’t happen before she leaves.

A few days later, Livia convinces Doris to skip school and go to the movies with her and a girl named Alice. Alice worships Livia and starts talking about a dress she bought that’s “flesh-colored” (253). Doris points out that not all flesh is the same color. Alice brushes her off, commenting, “It’s those little things, Doris. Why do your people concentrate on those little, itty-bitty things?” (254). Livia gets annoyed at Alice for this comment and forces her to get out of the car, but Doris isn’t impressed with Livia’s “self-satisfaction and self-righteousness” or the fact that Livia seems overly excited to see so many black people while taking Doris home (255). After dinner, the Yates family goes for a walk. They stop at Mr. Stutz’s shop and watch television in the window. Mr. Stutz comes out, and Doris’s parents are surprised that he seems to know Doris so well. One day, Livia isn’t in class, and Doris is surprised to discover that she misses her. She finds Livia, who is nonchalant and tells Doris that she will be leaving soon to go to a school up north. Doris asks Livia if she had been in a mental hospital, and Livia hugs her, replying, “Don’t you know that the real crazy people are the ones who do the same thing over and over again? Expecting different results every time?” (259).

After school, Doris goes to see Mr. Stutz and is surprised to see that the store is closing. Too many people want to watch the televisions in the window without buying. Besides, Mr. Stutz adds carefully, it isn’t a good neighborhood, and it’s hard to attract customers. After she leaves, Doris goes to a white lunch counter. She sits down, and the waitress tells her that she can’t serve her. Doris refuses to leave, feeling self-conscious because she knows the white patrons are talking about her. Finally, Doris tells the waitress that she is leaving because she needs to go, not because she’s intimidated, and the next time she’s there, she will want to order. The waitress insists that she still won’t be allowed to serve Doris but offers her the milkshake she has half-finished. Doris knows that she won’t drink the used milkshake but takes it as a kind gesture. Doris heads home as the sky turns dark.