A Sunny Spot.

Sunny runs Lenox Fast Food breakfast spot in Central Harlem.

He and his beautiful wife,

And Fernando,

Run the spot on Lenox Ave,

Just below 143rd St.

Next to a bar called 'A Touch of Dee'. 

They serve plates,

Fried fish,

Coffee with milk or half 'n' half only...

And cheese grits. 

Everyone orders the cheese grits.

I've never had them,

But secretly, always want to try them. 

The waffles are toaster waffles,

And come in 2 sizes: 

Regular and silver dollar. 

There are tins ready with butter,

Prepped bacon,

And these little metal bowls,

That Fernando has on hand to mix your eggs. 

Which he folds with precision and skill.

In the back of this narrow,

Black-painted-walled hole in the wall (the kinda spot my Dad would love),

On this block of Lenox Ave.,

There is a picture of Obama- maybe from 2008.

On the wall next to the "If someone is choking" sign.

Today a man,

Much taller than me,

With a smile and energy that could light up NY,

A man who Sunny knew by name,

Was called in to collect his coffee and pay for his food.

Sunny asked why he wasn't wearing a mask.

The man, 

With the smile bigger than the island of Manhattan said, "I'm from Texas!"

Sunny said, "Oh, you don't wear masks in Texas? You.. republicans."

The man smiled, "No, we don't. That's how we do it in Texas."

Sammy smirked and shook his head. I chuckled into my phone.

The man got his food and Sammy said, "Alright..." and called him by name as he left. 

I got called up to the counter-

Sunny will call you up by your order, "Scrambled eggs, bacon, home fries and toast."

Sometimes he'll open the box to show you it is the right one. 

Today he calls me "Young man."

He pauses for a second. The first time he's stopped moving, packing, pouring, jotting since I've stepped in.

"Pull down your mask." he says to me. I do.

He recognizes me, "Oh hey! How you been?"

I feel very special for this, "Good. Good. I've been in Los Angeles. Just got back."

"Oh. Ok. Good to see you." 

Back to work. There's a line.

Sunny asks me how I like my coffee, I say 2 Splendas and little milk, "Not too much."

He mixes my mini coffee with this long silver looking malt spoon before topping it and having me pay.

$8.75

I give him $10.00

He gives me $2.00

I motion to keep it,

Sunny slides it all to Fernando, 

Who has not stopped moving since I stepped in.

"Thanks Sunny! See you soon."

Lenox Fast Food closes at 2pm every day.

Sunny is Chinese and has a voice only tuned in New York City. 

It made me real happy to see him again this morning. 

To see the line at his door along the black wall to the picture of Obama,

Framed in the back.

And the coffee was perfect.