Wednesday, August 19th, 2020

The sign above the counter says “mushrooms burger.” I see that kind of mistake a lot. Apparently, that thing we do in English, where a noun modifying another noun is in the singular rather than plural, is weird. In Hebrew, “book store” is “store books.” It also drops the “of” that English speakers would expect when the words go in that order. People rarely believe me about the singular noun when I edit their documents. I often wish that I could snap my fingers and have Grammar Girl appear. When I get to the counter, the cashier greets me in Hebrew and asks what I want. I forget how to say “mushroom” in Hebrew. I say it in English. He looks confused. Another worker comes up behind him. She says the equivalent of “I’ve got this.” I’ve ordered from her before. As I sit outside and eat, four young girls play tag on the patio of the pizza joint next door. When any of them falls down, another takes her hands and pulls her back up. They hug and jump up and down like Teletubbies. The girls run back and forth onto the patio of the burger place. One crashes into my table and bounces off, laughing. One of the men with whom they came in looks over at me apologetically. I shrug and smile. After I eat, I stop at the cafe across the street. They just started serving affogatos. I order one. It’s OK. The espresso is good, but the ice cream is a generic soft-serve. I vaguely recall that I may have had another affogato since I moved here. I can’t remember where or when. I check my archive. It was last September. I was at an ice cream shop in the city south of here. The affogato was excellent, with cinnamon gelato. I think back on the many wonderful affogatos I had in Cleveland. I’m told that the place where I got them there has closed, as have other restaurants in the same square. I believe the all-night diner that I went to, wedged between the train platforms, is still in business. I think fondly of their liver and onions. The taste in my memory clashes with the affogato I’m eating. I step out of the past, apologize to the memory, and focus on what I’m eating here and now.