A stranger paid for my first cafecito on Calle Ocho

The line at a walk up coffee window on Calle Ocho in Little Havana was moving and I was not ready. The man in front of me noticed I was struggling to order. He turned and said, cafecito, little cup, strong, five minutes of your life back. He paid. I took the tiny cup, and I stood there for ten minutes while everything in the street slowed down. I order it properly now. I say, cafecito. I say it in the voice he used. I have not once been asked to repeat it.