The Omnivorous Fish

I leave for Knoxville, TN in about 3 hours. I saw the Agent off to work this morning and we had breakfast. You know where we had breakfast? Norma’s in the Parker Meridien? No. Balthazar for a bowl of Latté? Come on. Murray’s for bagels, maybe? Forget it. We went to the diner. We went to a mediocre diner, at that. The closest diner to our apartment, even. Why, you might ask. Why, when the Agent doesn’t go to the office until ten and money is more less no object for our last meal together for two months? Why?

In a word: speed. The Agent got bacon, egg and cheddar on a roll, and I got two scrambled with bacon and rye toast. It took about 3 minutes to come out. I got my free thimble of terrible (navel) orange juice and before I got my second cup of coffee, the check was on the table, with a gravelly “thanks, hon” and a crooked expression of the mouth that might have been a smile. It was $10. This is the last meal I will have like this until I am back north of the Mason-Dixon. Alas. There is no iced tea like there is in the south, and the quick breads they make there are what make quick breads worthwhile, but for Christ’s sake, it takes them eight minutes to make a three-minute egg.

Such is life. I’ll probably come back with colon cancer, but I’ll try to make the best of it.