Sublime

A dagger of morning prowled outside the open windows. The

She dropped a record-player needle into place, and jazz startled the room into the present tense.

So—some tomatoes tasted like water, and some tasted like summer lightning.

Suggested Reading Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain In the Drink by Kate Christensen Bad Behavior by Mary Gaitskill Blood, Bones & Butter by Gabrielle Hamilton The Liars’ Club by Mary Karr Complete Poems and Selected Letters of John Keats by John Keats Bright Lights, Big City by Jay McInerney Tropic of Cancer by Henry Miller Down and Out

Their innate hospitality. Their anticipation of others’ needs. That was when service went from an illusion to a true expression of compassion.

You were a compendium of disposable information that people burned up while they drank and escaped their lives.