These are not adventures in foreign lands
but areas we know full well.
Still, they have not been visited in quite some time
and who knows how they may have changed
in the years since the last sojourn?

I don’t think I’ve been here since COVID
which was a lifetime ago
and don’t know anymore what to expect.
Will they still allow my sort through the door?
Do they continue to serve macaroni salad?
Is Marianna still on staff in the back corner?
These important questions need answers!

We find these answers
and more
through our stay at Last Hope Cafe & Smokes
(which no longer allows smoking within the premises).
It is not the only place we frequent
in this long-overlooked neighborhood
but it is the only one
where Marianna has forsaken me.