The man at the bar on Broadway, sitting at the table outside, seems to be trying to counteract the effects of his beer with coffee. He is drinking glass after glass, cup after cup, and smoking cigarettes without pause. Allison, age fifteen, who has sat down across from him without invitation, silently supposes that this is an attempt at covering up his early evening activities from a wife.
He keeps telling Allison that he should go but makes no move to leave, so she simply continues to sit and look at him and listen to him ramble on about poetry. (ms)
