Mushrooms on Toast

I added some cream to the juices, then turned the mushrooms back in. In a soup bowl I placed a piece of toast and a perfect coddled egg, then the mushroom gravy, a grind of pepper. Good enough to make you forget your upbringing and lick the plate. Cleaned up and went to town. I had to pay a couple of bills, wanted to see some live people, and I needed coffee for the larder. My favorite banker, Ty, was at the bar, and we always have a good conversation. He envies me having a beer with lunch, a Red Stripe, the summer special. His wife is a teacher, and I'm slightly embarrassed that I don't remember her name, or what she teaches. I have to get ahead with my own life, after all; consult the list and stop by the library. I always check the New Non-Fiction section, and got a book of essays I'd wanted to read, and a light fiction, among the New Arrivals; I actually sat in one of those chairs that they place around, so you can read the first few pages and determine that you hadn't read that book before. One of the bar-tenders, Brandon, heard me talking with Ty about McCarthy, and said that he was rereading "Blood Meridian", which is certainly one of the two or three best novels in the language. I steered him toward "Gravity's Rainbow" and "Suttree". Look at the navigator in either of those narratives. They disappear by the end, you're left with a coppery taste, and a camp-fire, late at night. B had set aside several London Reviews for me, at his place, and I'd finally remembered to take them home. Sat in my incredibly uncomfortable writing chair for hours, drinking smoked tea, smoking, reading. There's an easy rhythm to it, getting up for a snack, going outside to pee, remembering the past. I maintain that here is where I want to be. I took a survey, meaning I asked several people the same question; I amuse myself that way. Amuse is probably the wrong word. Entertain? Engage? No one can agree on anything. Nothing matters. Like I'd been preaching to the choir, too clever by far, and there were seven cast iron skillets.