For reasons unknown, I’d awakened at around 2:20 a.m.; wide awake with no chance of going back to sleep. I futzed about for a while, then decided to go out for a middle-of-the-night breakfast.
My wife is away for a few days, so I had no constraints about getting in the car and going. Other than giant chains like Waffle House and International House of Pancakes, there’s only one place that comes to mind when I want a wee-hours breakfast; J’s Cafe. So, off I went to join the weird late-night crowd; I was surprised to see so many people having breakfast when I arrived at 4:00 a.m.
The counter was almost full and the people sitting there were talking far too much for my liking, so I opted not to go for one of the few empty bar stools. Instead, I waded through the crowd to the almost empty section at the back of the place, where I could have a booth to myself.
I sat with my back to the wall in a booth that gave me a reasonably good view of the rest of the place, save for the tables and counter hidden by the wait staff station in the middle of the place.
A group of four people sitting at a booth closest to the door, three men and a woman, all of whom appeared to be twenty-somethings, were among the loudest people in the place. I decided they had been out drinking most of the night and were working on recovering from the damage they had done to their livers. At another booth were to guys, maybe in their thirties, engaged in earnest conversation; their expressions suggested that the topic was not a laughing matter.
The people sitting at the counter were a diverse lot. A nattily-dressed guy in his twenties, a middle-aged guy wearing a baseball hat, a grey-haired older man busily sending texts or emails, and two young guys having a conversation with one of the cooks. The counter group was diverse in age and ethnicity, but there were no women sitting there. I wonder why I see so few women sitting at counters in restaurants?
My choice of breakfast was one of the cheaper ones, but it was more than ample; two eggs, two pieces of bacon, two links of sausage, and two pancakes. I have no need for such monster breakfasts, but that did not stop me from finishing it.
It’s now approaching 8:20 a.m. and I’ve been up about six hours. I suspect I will not be up at 2:20 a.m. tomorrow morning, unless I go against my usual behavior and take a nap today.
