Breakfast for Dinner

and a fiction piece

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Photo taken by me at a cafe.

This piece is from my collection that I call “Conversations” each of which is set in a different decade. You can find another “Conversations” piece in last July’s Food & Fodder.

Conversations Outside a Diner: December 1995

“Morning,” said the man in the blue sweater. It had a stripe across his chest, and a stream of smoke was rising up from his mouth.

“Morning,” the man replied. His button-down was well-tailored, his hair well-slicked, and his manner well-suited to the sunny winter morning.

The man in the sweater took a step away.

The man in the button-down inched closer.

Sweater took a drag, glancing at his companion out of the corner of his eye. He looked chilled, the man in the button-down. Ill-suited to stand in the cold. And apparently standing in the cold for no reason. No car pulled up to the curb to take him home. No packet of cigarettes bulged in his chest pocket to explain his time outside.

Sweater took another step away, and Button-down followed his step.

Sweater flicked ash off the tip of his cigarette and shook his head. He smiled. “Forgive me, sir. I’m trying to keep my smoke out of your face.” He gestured with the cigarette in a vaguely friendly way.

Button-down smiled. “And I’m trying to breathe it in.”