The Empty Mug

It was Pedro's first day at his new job. He arrived twenty minutes early. The office was on the fourth floor of a building near the river. Someone showed him his desk and gave him a laptop. Then they disappeared into a meeting.

Bio je to Pedrov prvi dan na novom poslu. Stigao je dvadeset minuta ranije. Ured je bio na četvrtom katu zgrade blizu rijeke. Netko mu je pokazao njegov stol i dao mu prijenosno računalo. Zatim su nestali na sastanku.

Pedro sat down. The desk was clean. There was a single ceramic mug on the corner, empty. He thought it was a welcome gift, maybe. He didn't drink coffee, but he was thirsty.

Pedro je sjeo. Stol je bio čist. Na kutu je stajala jedna keramička šalica, prazna. Pomislio je da je to možda poklon dobrodošlice. Nije pio kavu, ali bio je žedan.

He walked to the small kitchen and filled the mug with water. When he sat back down, a man with a beard appeared at the door of his cubicle. The man looked at the mug for a long second.

Otišao je do male kuhinje i napunio šalicu vodom. Kad se vratio, na vratima njegovog ureda pojavio se čovjek s bradom. Čovjek je dugo gledao u šalicu.

"That was my mug," he said. "I sat there before." He smiled. "It's fine. Welcome. I'm Diego."

"To je bila moja šalica," rekao je. "Sjedio sam tamo prije." Nasmiješio se. "U redu je. Dobrodošao. Ja sam Diego."

Pedro turned red. He apologized and offered the mug back. Diego laughed. "Keep it. Consider it your welcome gift. But ask first about the coffee. The machine is more complicated than it looks."

Pedro je pocrvenio. Ispričao se i ponudio da vrati šalicu. Diego se nasmijao. "Zadrži je. Smatraj to svojim poklonom dobrodošlice. Ali prvo pitaj za kavu. Aparat je složeniji nego što izgleda."

Later, Diego showed him how the coffee machine worked. It took ten minutes.

Kasnije, Diego mu je pokazao kako radi aparat za kavu. Trebalo je deset minuta.