Tea, never coffee, English Breakfast with five spoonfuls of sugar, sometimes six, and honey if it was cold. Armstrong thought the cups at this place were too small.
The Greek diner, Serranos, was now a car lot, but she had found Armstrong somehow, in this trendy new cafe three blocks down.
They had vegan lemon squares, these tiny things for $3.99, and he ordered one, not because he was vegan, or particularly hungry. Just because he hated loitering and she was late.
He could see her on the street-the cafe was all windows-walking west, fussing with stuff in her cart.
She crossed Mack midblock, caught a honk or two, even in the bright morning sun Armstrong saw the flash of brake lights.
She made it across, bungee-corded her cart to the street light, and placed a combination lock over the cord. She locked it in place, though the cord could easily be removed with one hand by a passerby, but Armstrong had noted months ago that she remembered the combination when she left.
She was Rosalynn mostly, but sometimes Jacqueline, and Betty. It wasn’t until the day she was Mamie that the barista at the cafe pointed out that she was always a First Lady.
A Sikh guy leaving with a small bag of pastries held the door for her as she walked in, almost a march, purposeful.
She called, “A large malted, Donna” without getting in line or even looking at the counter. Armstrong knew the proprietor, the young guy from Almont, had considered carrying malteds for her.
She plopped down at Armstrong’s table. He smiled at her, said hello.
She was calm today. Some days she was more agitated, more urgent.
She was Rosalynn, she lived next door, and he needed to do a better job of keeping his lawn mowed, and some flowers would be nice, he could get the seeds cheap at the hardware store.
He promised he would hire a lawn service, and she told him a strapping young man like him should cut his own lawn, it was good exercise.
He loved it when she described him as strapping.
He hoped she always did, and he promised himself again that he would find out where she lived and make sure she had everything she needed.
***
Photo by Aniketh Kanukurthi on Unsplash
Always a first lady😉
Love folks who take in/on strays