For comfort food on a gigantic scale, Jason McCormack at The Miller Grill serves up massive chicken-fried steaks, Indian tacos as big as your head, pancakes a foot wide, and a burger named The Heart-Attack Burger. Located near Route 66 in Yukon, there’s no shame in bringing a friend to share a meal.
Season two of Yes! Science! is in filming. I’m officially referring to this next batch of videos as season two instead of season one, part two as I’ve gotten some new equipment and the quality is improved. You can get super early access to the first profile on a Hydrometeorologist in Norman, Oklahoma over at Patreon. If all goes well, new videos will be released in May. It depends if I’m able to get enough interviews in April done before I leave in May to film Colorful Escapes. On the subject of Colorful Escapes, except news on that very soon.
Death visits a coffee shop for their espresso machine.
Janet had seen all kinds of weirdness since opening Humming Bird Coffee in the art-centric town of Norman, Oklahoma, six years ago. Every holiday was a grandiose event. For Halloween, giant inflatables overtook the downtown streets for a family-friendly festival. For Mardi Gras, which wasn’t a major holiday for the region, people gathered on the cold winter night to have a circling parade. However, no holiday could top the popularity of the city’s yearly free music festival in April.
It was common for the Norman Music Festival to see people in elaborate outfits to promote bands or dance with them on stage. However, Janet had never seen a costume complicated as the one that stood before her. For starters, they were nine feet tall. She wasn’t sure how she missed them entering her coffee shop. It was as if they had simply appeared. The figure wore a hooded robe of dirt that moved along like ocean waves. Somehow, Janet got the smell of fresh dirt on a foggy morning in her mind. Their body was of a human skeleton while in the eye sockets where a pair of arctic, soul-sucking spheres of blue flames. Matching the blue eyes was a techno-punk scythe with a neon blue blade.
“Hi, what can I get you?” Janet asked like any other customer.
Death paused, staring at Janet to see if she was referring to him. “You can see me?”
“Of course. I love your costume. Are you with one of the bands?”
“No, I’m here for the General,” Death said.
“The General?” Janet repeated.
The General was not a person but the nickname for the beast of a coffee machine that Janet found at a flea market and rebuilt. Her employees often joked the device had a mind of its own and liked Janet the best.
“Of course. That’s why everyone comes here,” Janet said as she patted the large green espresso maker.
“Do you share a special bond with this General?”
“My staff teases me that I do.”
“That must explain why you can see me.”
There was a dark seriousness in Death’s tone that made Janet think of her brother, who took his own life.
Janet reached for Death’s hand. “Yes, I can see you. Everyone can see you. Look, I know we don’t know each other, but if you need someone to talk to, I can connect you with someone who can help you.”
“Who are you talking to, Janet?” Mick said, giving her a confused look.
“I’m talking to this fellow,” Janet answered, pointing at nothing Mick could see.
“There’s no one there.”
“Hey, don’t say that!” Janet snapped.
“Janet,” Death said with a firm tone. Janet turned and faced him. “He cannot see me, for I am Death.”
Death raised his arms, and time paused for all but Janet and himself as the room filled with darkness.
“Oh my god. Is it my time?”
“No,” Death said, annoyed. “I told you, I’m here for the General.”
“But the General is just a coffee machine…”
“No, I’m not, Janet.”
Janet spun around. Standing before her was her beloved coffee machine in an impish form.
“How?” was all Janet could say.
“I was leading a rebellion on Yellow Planet when I got severely damaged. During the battle, I got caught in a temporal attack that sent me to Earth, where you found me. You brought me a peaceful life, and that was all I ever wanted.”
Death walked through the counter and picked up the General in his arms. “I apologize for the false scare. Don’t worry, Janet. I don’t foresee visiting you personally anytime soon.”
The General saluted Janet. “It has been a privilege making coffee with you.”
Together, Death and the General floated down through the ground, taking the darkness with them, returning light and time.
“Janet,” Mick called out, waving his hands in front of Janet. “Are you okay?”
Janet looked around. Death was gone. Everything was normal for Norman. She turned to her coffee machine, which was still there, but the lights were out.
I initially wrote this short story back in February 2018. The story was inspired by the following writing prompt: “As you are sitting at your favorite café drinking your coffee, at the window and across the street, you see Death approaching, probably for you. Turns out the café just has really good coffee.”
After my marathon of short stories in 2020, I wanted to revisit my older works and so I updated this story in February 2021. I worked with Janine De Guzman at Design Pickle to bring the scene of Death visiting Humming Bird Coffee to life.
Lazy Circles Brewing is a taproom in Norman that embodies the heart of the community by not only making traditional style beers, but also hosting events such as Beer Yoga and Lazy Runners Brew Crew. In this interview, Stephen Basey and Stephen Swanson talk about the brewery they opened in November 2017.
Thanks to my supporters on Patreon! If you became a patron, you’ll get early access to the videos and bonus content. I’m in the process of editing next week’s video, which should be up on there soon. Thank you for watching!
Specializing in non-traditional brewing methods and ingredients, Norman natives Trae Carson and Jonathan Stapleton opened a brewery that allows them to be creative in their beer making adventures. 405 Brewing Co.’s “Liquid Art” is built by hand and in this interview with the owners discuss how they started, what types of beers they offer, and invites everyone to come try one of their unique beers.
I’ve already filmed an interview with another brewery that does more traditional beers, which will be next week’s video.
Thanks to my supporters on Patreon! If you became a patron, you’ll get early access to the videos and bonus content. Thank you for watching!
In this Yes! Science! profile, Dr. Katrina Menard gives a talk about her work at the Sam Noble Museum in Norman, Oklahoma. She also gives a behind the scenes look of the museum’s collection of invertebrates, so this profile is more of presentation than an interview. We did film an interview, but it was decided that this video was better and not to use the other.
Dr. Katrina Menard is originally from northern Virginia and is currently the curator of recent invertebrates at the Sam Noble Oklahoma Museum of Natural History. She earned her master’s and Ph.D. in entomology from Texas A&M University and has worked in several museums, including the Smithsonian and the American Museum of Natural History. Her expertise is in true bugs (Heteroptera), and she has traveled around the world to study their diversity and relationships with plants, which many rely on for their life-cycle. She enjoys natural history in a broader sense, and sharing her love of insects with others.
