Even before the sun is up, they are out the door and looking. Coffee.
It's dark and cold. Coffee.
That's what they're searching for. And friendship.
"Education, too. Not just the coffee," says one of the guys.
In every town, every morning, the men are out early. Here in Atlanta, Texas, it's seven to eight guys who are making up one of the longest-running weekly meetings of coffeehouse-goers.
More than 30 years, that's how far back in memory Jimmy Thompson can trace the group gathering, and he thinks he was one of the originals.
It's an early Thursday morning thing, perhaps started at the Atlanta First United Methodist Church.
For years they met at the now-vanished Dixie Maid. Now it's at the American Legion hall where they can make their own biscuits and coffee.
And the Bible study is real. It has assignments. It lasts close to an hour and involves plenty of talk.
On other days, these same men may meet with others in a search for the free cup of coffee. That's the highest good.
They don't need it, exactly. They each could pay for the whole pot, but the search is for the free cup, and several places in town will give free cups of coffee.
Much of the time it's McDonald's, where thanks to a long-ago public relations project, if you bought a certain McDonald's coffee mug, you got a free refill thereafter.
That cup is a now an inheritance. Passed down. Never left on the table for clearance.
The idea of the men's search is to get the day started right. And the free cup is considered important because the coffee searchers want to feel welcomed. They want to entertain and be entertained, although they'd never explain it that way.
The Bible study conversation rarely ever gets out of hand. There's a lot of perspective. If one such as Mike Lee spends a lot of energy in talking for a long time, he afterwards will say, "The men don't pay much attention to me anyway."
And they don't.
n n n
And if at another location on another day, the sun comes cup and the regular customers start coming in to fill up the tables, someone in the group will be like Roger Matlock and say, "I can hear that door opening."
He means the door of the oven at home where his wife has been making biscuits is opening, and they're ready. It's time for him to go home.
Coffeehouses, of course, go way back in history-way back and all over the world.
It's an informal club and occurs in every community. In Douglassville, for example, the men meet outside the local four-way corner Quick-Stop and sit on the lowered tailgates of their pickups to drink coffee.
There's more to the American Legion Post 258 coffee meeting. The Bible-studying men add to the richness of the community by having a money pot. That is, they throw in some cash each Thursday morning. And if someone in the community does need some help, why, the coffee-goers can do it.
The coffee group there last week included Roger Matlock, Mike Lee, Jimmy Thompson, Larry Thompson, Bob Dotson, James Manning, David Yarger and Vince Sloterdyke.
They are just a few of the regulars but are the faithful. Each had a big black Bible, some with large print, and they read a full chapter, discussing every line.
They have an unspoken general philosophy. Jimmy Thompson said so at the end.
"The Lord takes failures and makes something out of us, that's what He does."
And it seemed everyone did pay attention to that remark.