Before I left the restaurant, a pair who were both clearly together and not together came in. A middle-aged, bobbed blonde in pink was trailed by a wiry, dirty-haired Black woman draped in an over-sized coat with a large stain across it. In a croaky voice she asked the woman in pink, “Won’t you please by me a cup of coffee?” I looked down at my table to avoid eye contact and interaction. Then I overhead her saying almost triumphantly to the kitchen staff, “She’s gonna buy me a cup of coffee.” Without missing a beat, a Valois staff member trumpeted back, “Go wait outside, go wait outside, go wait outside.” Though taking her time, the bedraggled woman walked toward the door, talking perhaps to herself or to others in the restaurant along the way. Almost out the door, she stopped in front of a mural of an elaborate metal gate opening into a bright floral garden. Gazing up, she leaned into and against the wall with her hands, creating one side of an A-frame, as if trying push open the gate further. A Valois employee with a to-go coffee cup in his hand led her out the door. He waved her away from the building while holding the door open for stately Black couple both clad in pinstripes. The couple and the employee exchange a few words and shake their heads. Soon they separate as he goes back to work, they come into eat together and alone, and I look for a moment at the gate and garden mural.
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