Sleep and Eat

When I was a kid and stole downstairs late at night I would often find my dad in the kitchen. Reading and eating a bowl of Cheerios. My dad loves Cheerios. Later, in high school I would come home at three and four in the morning to find him awake, not cross with me. Just up. Thinking and eating his Cheerios. He tells me about the Russian revolution and whatever he heard on NPR that day and tells me about the book he's reading about current events. He is very into Current Events. He is the most serious eating Cheerios in the middle of the night. He is in Mississippi still. Left behind working while we flee the heat for the summer. I have recently found myself leaning against the kitchen counter in the dead of night reading the New Yorker and eating whatever is on hand. Avocado last night. What is nicer than an avocado with salt and pepper on crackers in the middle of the night? Anything? No.