(For those of you who asked which bookstore on 8th street
never enough details for me: it was Eighth Street Bookshop
closed in 1979)
Naomi did not like the name Steve especially. Still
there was something about This Particular Steve - his
combination of familiar and un. She was, on the first day
of their meeting, wearing three kimonos of different lengths
one on top of the other. How this came to be - this outfit
in particular, was entirely happenstance, but she liked it.
Steve, on the other hand, was dressed in nothing more or less.
Loose cotton shirt, pants the color of no color - maybe beige,
maybe grey. His face is what mattered. Steve had one of those
faces, strong, all emotion right there in front of anyone who
looked. He looked like any age at all. Both young
enough that no one thought in numbers. In his hands was Rilke.
In hers, Djuana Barnes. They each, in surreptitious ways,
examined one another’s books. The first full sentence that
Steve said to Naomi was this: I’ll buy you a cup of coffee
at Cafe Reggio. OK, Naomi said. But she thought to herself
He didn’t mention biscotti. Just coffee. Maybe
it was just a metaphor. But for what?
I am reminded of the Peacock Cafe, which I miss....
Cafe Regio had very good coffee. Don't worry about the biscottis.