Claimed Read Online Free Page B

obstinately at the door, refusing to let the older man have his way. He wanted to get out of there as soon as he could. And standing as close to the door was as comfortable as he could get in Samuel’s small office.
    “If you’re trying to leave quickly, you sure aren’t doing a good job of it,” Sam said sternly.
    Jared looked back at the man with annoyance. Seeing that his stubbornness was going to be futile, he relented and pulled out a chair. He slumped into it with his arms across his chest. His knee bounced uncontrollably under the table as he tried to keep his impatience in check.
    “Coffee?” Sam offered.
    “I’m okay.”
    “It’s polite manners for a guest to accept a drink when he is offered one by his host,” Sam said, filling two cups of coffee.
    “I’m not here for etiquette lessons, Sam.”
    “Everyone needs etiquette lessons at some point in their lives. Milk?”
    Jared sighed. “Thanks.”
    He handed the cup over to Jared. “Nice day outside.”
    Jared looked down at his cup of rich milk coffee steaming in the palm of his hand. He couldn’t afford such luxury. Not anyone he knew in Sector 8 Central could afford it. Had his mother ever tasted it? He put his lips to the thin edge of the dainty cup. He felt a sip of the hot drink run down his throat and he relished the smooth chocolaty taste.
    “You like it?” Sam asked , his brow rose with curiosity.
    Jared shrugged, still not com fortable enough to share his intimate feelings about a cup of coffee.
    “It’s called civet coffee; produced first in the beautiful island country of Indonesia. Story had it that Asian palm civets or toddy cats used to feed on coffee berries. They’d scour for days looking for the best, the tastiest and the ripest of the berries. The poor locals who worked for coffee plantations discovered that civets ate the berries and then defecated the undigested seeds. Craving for a drink they couldn’t afford, some brave souls collected the droppings and plucked the seeds out of it.”
    “You’re giving me coffee pooped out of some wild cat?” Jared looked at him gravely over his tea cup.
    Sam ignored him and continued. “Well, it so happened, these poor locals had discovered a coffee that tasted far richer than anything their rich employers could produce. Coffee experts explain that the one reason that it tastes so good is because civets have the knack of munching on the best berries. The other reason was once the seeds are inside the digestive tract of the animal; it absorbs its acids and enzymes. It is this fermentation process that gives it its distinctive flavor.”
    “All this money and you rich people prefer coffee shat out of a cat,” Jared put down his cup with a sigh.
    “You’ve just had a drink of one of the world’s most expensive coffee,” Sam said, resting leisurely into his chair, observing him.
    Jared lay back also, mirroring the older man. “That was interesting. Unfortunately, I don’t give a crap as to where you guys get your coffee from.”
    “ Well, you should.”  Sam leant forward, his elbows on the table as he peered at him. “Why are you so hell bent against working for the Callums?”
    Jared let out a puff of air, his eyes wandering over the pictures on his desk.
    Sam followed his eyes. “My family. I have three sons and a daughter.”
    “Do they live on the property?”
    Sam chuckled. “No. They live in Sector 8 Central, just like you do.”
    Jared raised his eyes in surprise. “I’ve never seen them. Surely, if they were as well dressed as you were, I would have noticed them.”
    “I try and give them what’s important. And that is food on the table and the will to endure.” He bent to the side of his desk and pulled open his drawer. He lifted out a book, well worn-out from over-use, and laid it on the table. He opened the pages, revealing several old photographs “Two centuries ago, black slaves were kidnapped from ancient Africa, shackled and bundled into ships and