Starvation. That's what people on the other side of the world faced. Keith read about it everyday in the news. He read a physical

newspaper

everyday with a

cappuccino

. Somehow K Man the barista convinced him to order a tall black.

The news felt less enjoyable alongside this abomination of a drink. Keith craved froth covered espresso. If he didn't have a soft spot in his heart for K Man, he would've just ordered a cappuccino. But he couldn't do that to K Man. He could tell that K Man was completely convinced that 'his favorite customer' would like the tall black just as much as him.

Plus. What was there to enjoy about the news. So what if his coffee tasted like junk. There were people starving on the other side of the planet. And then there were the people who were dying in wars. Also there were those dying from both.

Maybe a disgusting tall black was just what was needed to let Keith feel the feels for real. He glanced over at the counter. K Man gave him a thumbs up. Keith gestured a toast with his drink. Smiled and went back to his newspaper.

Why did Keith enjoy reading about the turmoils of other people? Maybe enjoy was an incorrect term. More accurate to say that Keith was nonplussed by it. Dark news would hurt Marianna and Cal. The two of them would avoid bad news. Keith could read a story about a mother unable to feed her two children the same as he might read the meditation habits of 

Bill Gates

. Probably why Keith was so successful up at 

Spacecity

.

Observing people's lives on earth. It took a heavy toll on the average Spacecity employee. Not Keith though. He could watch and watch. No harm done to his psyche.

It was common for people to struggle to assimilate back to earth. Gravity. Jobs. Reconnecting to people you weren't stuck inside a confined space station with. Most people found it difficult. Suicide rates were high. Keith excelled. He had become the highest lab manager at a prominent university. Had even been offered a director position without a phd, which was unheard of. But he turned it down. He enjoyed running the lab and its experiments. Enjoyed being able to drink a cappuccino and read the news during lunch break without people bothering him.