Aureate Daphne Unearthed

Hakon had never liked caves. He didn’t change his mind once he began working on an archaeological site in one. Alas, Hakon was a traveling barista and had to go where the money was.

Hakon loved coffee. He loved travel. And so he hauled beans and tools where ever the wind took him. He quickly fell into a circuit of visiting colleges. It was at one such college that he met Laura.

Laura was an anthropology student with an upcoming internship doing field work with at an archaeological site. The entire team loved Hakon’s coffee.

And so Hakon found himself in a cave with sweaty hands passing out mugs of piping-hot coffee. His fear mingled with the damp air, resulting in a clinical case of butterfingers the moment the aureate daphne was unearthed.

And so it was destroyed before Laura could realize why this was mysterious. It was destroyed before she could fathom what she had found. She put it down, thinking it nothing of significance.

Hakon blinked and found himself on a beach, dragging his feet through sand, frantically searching for a can.

This story is part of a series of weekly flash fiction posts. The title and story are inspired by the results of a random word generator.