Lunar

It's the Lunar New Year so I stopped at the Chinese run, Louisiana-style, seafood restaurant on the way home. I handed a red envelope to the lady tending bar in her mask and wished her a happy new year. She said she thought maybe I'd stopped coming. She and her husband are the owners, and they and their kids work all the time to keep it afloat. It's been a hard year, but they're still at it. Eating there alone made me remember the Texas Cajun and its full house of oil field workers and take-no-shit-at-all waitresses and thinking about a dark eyed girl I hoped might be in the hospital cafeteria at lunch tomorrow.