Kirstin says hello as I enter, but she’s a ways away so I just wave.
Harvey is at the grill, and we exchange slight bobblehead-moves, and I
remember that last week he told me his brother had died. … [read more]

If one fine day the pandemic ends, and earth resumes its ordinary
orbit, and life ever looks again like the before times, the people who
work at the diner will work five days a week, and Kirstin will almost
always be my waitress on Friday mornings. … [read more]

I’m early to beat the rush, but the rush got here before me — the
diner is surprisingly busy. There are perhaps twenty customers, which is
legal (the COVID minimums have been raised to 50% of capacity) but it’s
more than usual for 6:10 in the morning. … [read more]

Kirstin says hello as I walk in, and I smile and say “Hi,” but I’m in
a sour mood just because I’m me. There’s an open stool and the mandated
social distance on the right side of the U-shaped counter, where I’ve
been sitting for the past few years, but there are also several empty
stools on the left side of the counter — including my formerly preferred
seat, at the top of the counter’s U. … [read more]

Kirstin offers an exuberant hello when I walk into the diner, and I’m
happy to see her handing out menus and napkins and a pleasant outlook,
and protecting the customers from Harvey’s surliness. … [read more]

Harvey is behind the counter, and he’s taking someone’s order but he
acknowledges me with a cordial tilt of his head. I sit at an empty
stool, look around, and slip into my magazine. … [read more]

There are more customers inside the diner than I can quickly count — twenty or so, I’d guess. That’s too many, but not too too many, and there’s still room at the counter. … [read more]

This just in: Christ is King. At least, according to the graffiti,
painted in neat white lettering on the gray fence of the parking lot. It
wasn’t there last week, so my congratulations to Christ on his
promotion. … [read more]

It’s damned cold, -11° Fahrenheit, with lots of ice for scraping and
slipping, plus a few further complications I won’t mention that have me
running quite late this morning. … [read more]

I bought some new and improved masks after last week’s panic attack, and they fit much
more snugly than the cloth masks. My face is wrapped tight as an
unopened package of franks, and it feels seriously safer, especially
since I’m wearing two. … [read more]