The most dynamic scholarship being done at the coffee shop today is by a newcomer named J-Bub.That man over there studies carbon in the Hydrosphere. The other one is researching the aftermath of China’s 1911 revolution. A woman in the corner is fleshing out a one-woman play.

But by far the most dynamic scholarship being done at the coffee shop today is by a newcomer named J-Bub. J-Bub’s field of inquiry is trucks, big trucks. He watches for them through the windows.

J-Bub is a man of few words but that’s changing quickly. He knows many more today than he did a month ago. Next year he’ll know a word for almost everything, including synonyms.

This is J-Bub’s second outing to the coffee shop with his Popi and he’s noticing things. The baristas give people something and the people give the baristas something. That’s interesting, isn’t it?

He reads context. Since there are no toys on the floor, this coffee shop isn’t really for people like him. At their next stop, at the neighborhood library, he owns the floor and everything on it.

He knows large from small, likes from dislikes, dos and don’ts, hellos and goodbyes. He is studying the exercise of power and the rewards of civil disobedience.

Two-year-olds start to put concepts together. J-Bub identified a “new toy.” He doesn’t know how to ask the why of things just yet, but he’ll start soon and he’ll never stop.

One thing that impresses us all about our new colleague is that he does all this intellectual heavy lifting without so much as a drop of caffeine.