Deep down in Kansas with a needle in my eye

There's a cute looking coffee shop that's really close to my apartment. When I first moved in I was eying it and excited about a new regular coffee spot. Then I found out a small drip coffee was $5.

I pass the spot nearly every day and for a while found myself intrigued by large groups of people outside on the street at all different times of day. Not usually so strange, but 1: there's no way the coffee is that good, and 2: this was a bizarre melting pot of a group. Well-to-dos, crazy mountain beardeds, tattoo fiends, hipsters, bikers, normals. And on top of that these people were all serious close-close friends with everyone else in the group. You see non-stop warm embraces and intense conversations when they're together--you get a real sense of empathy and caring from these people.

For months I would observe and wonder: what was it that connected these people of such varied walks of life? People who must have nearly no similar life experiences to one another.

And then it hit me like a lightening bolt: addiction. This was confirmed about a month later when a friend told me that there are a lot of A.A. meetings there.

I am officially the riddle master.