Read Section I: The Lovers.
Content Summary for Teachers
The Lovers
Narrated in the past tense by a third-person omniscient narrator, Before the Coffee Gets Cold opens with a man and woman sitting in a small basement cafe in Tokyo. Three large antique clocks are on the walls showing different times and there are no windows. Over their coffee, the man informs the woman he is moving to America for work, and his flight is leaving in several hours. The woman realizes he is breaking up with her rather than asking her to marry him, as she hoped. They have been together for two years. It frustrates her that he is refusing to give her an explanation and is being passive. He pays the bill and...
