Beans for Breakfast

When I was getting up to leave Vivace, I noticed a quiet table where a woman and her two kids were sitting, reading silently. The woman was flipping through a magazine, the kids – a boy and a girl – had old mass market paperbacks. I didn’t see the covers, but the books [...]

My across the hall neighbor Tom is up ahead, walking up from Broadway past Jack In the Box. He sprinkles a handful of bread crumbs onto the sidewalk and a crow hops over to investigate. I greet him from a few paces away. He shifts his cigar to the corner of his [...]

Returning to my seat at the coffee shop after using the restroom, I had to squeeze in behind a pair who were finishing up a personal conversation about rough times, lost love, and holiday depression. The word “suicidal” was used casually. This was happening just a few feet away. And I was [...]

She had pink hair one of the times I talked to her a few years ago, at a different coffee shop. She hadn’t been extra careful with the hair dye. Her fingers were also stained pink – her hands too, probably. I couldn’t see her hands. The sleeves of her sweater [...]

I was about to cross the street at a quiet corner a few blocks from home. I would have been jaywalking, except that a tall curly-headed guy ran up in front of me and stopped just one step away. He had come out of nowhere, as they say. He quickly closed the [...]