Elegance and Death

It is hard to be sure that what you believe is happening, is what is really happening. Tonight, Jack, the bartender at Henningers (home to the famous TV dinner), decided that I needed to finish off my 1/2 lb of steamed shrimp with a hot towel and a squeeze of lemon for my hands. It was an classy gesture, ending a fine, spicy treat. Those around me at the bar indicated through their guttural groaning that the special treatment I was receiving was, somehow, undeserved and unwarranted. I beg your pardon. Jack and I have a kind of mind-meld, human intuiting, razz-ma-tazz thing for elegant gestures. He gives. I receive.

What other bartender prepares tall votive candles with the pictures of deceased celebrities that are ensconced on the bar? Who? Name ONE! When I arrived tonight, I knew the recently deceased Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. would be glued to a votive candle. And he was. He was there with candle light illuminating his Xeroxed photo. Schlesinger, intellectual-in-residence at Kennedy's Camelot, was not only a preeminent American scholar but a lion of liberalism. This lion was right down the bar from Anna Nicole's votive candle. Her photo was in full color, as was her cleavage. Jack does not discriminate.

What more can I say? Very special. R.I.P.