Tad Wojnicki

Grabbing a Quickie in the Old Steinbeck Feed Shop

Get up early. Run a mile, maybe two, before the sun is up. No eggs left. Too bad. Skip breakfast, then. Get a jump on the day. Think up a spot to hole up. Where no one can find you. Like the Cherry Bean Cafe, the former Steinbeck Feed Shop, gone bankrupt in 1918. While there, open up. Get feed for thoughts. Get a horselaugh. Get a solid, kick-butt day of writing.

The sun comes out. Pale like the yellow of an egg.

Cherry Bean is fun with its flower-stem lampposts in front, identical with the lampposts of the Marais, the Jewish quarter of Paris. Some jokers call it "Cheery Been," since it's full of cheery has-beens, they say. Sitting there, I stew in a Babel of tongues, steep in chais, brew in coffees and kvases, and pickle in the sweat of the steerage. The stewing, brewing, and pickling heal unhealed wounds.

hot bagel
want a fried egg?
catch the sun