freshman year my friends and i
   gathered at the broadway.  you see
   toms, well toms was toms, and everybody
   went to toms and you had to be past
   cool to go to the mill but no one
   went to the the broadway and it was
   not cool but the thing is it was
   definitely different.
 
   we'd walk the extra few blocks down to
   110th street order our hamburgers and
   eggs, laugh and talk, talk and
   laugh over our hamburgers and eggs and
   it was just like it was supposed to be
   when you're just cool enough to realize
   you're never gonna be cool.
 
   our waitress was maria and she was
   old and short and fat and she'd make
   fun of us, especially me, and tell
   us to go to toms and we loved her
   making fun of us, especially me, and
   once when it was just me and paul she
   told us about her children and that
   was actually kind of cool and it was
   definitely different.
 
   sophomore year i was so funny but
   nowhere close to cool and though i
   don't know how or why it happened more
   and more people started going to the
   broadway.  toms, well toms was toms and
   everybody went to toms but the mill
   wasn't as cool and sometimes we'd go
   there and once we saw michael with this
   girl in toms and everything was different
   but I always knew michael was too cool
   and soon enough none of us ever went
   to the broadway but sometimes we'd go to
   this cuban-chinese place down on 107th
   and i'd walk by 110th on the other side
   of broadway to avoid maria and that was
   definitely different.
 
   junior year i was chasing this girl
   and i went home a lot too and i was
   still so funny but my friends were
   getting serious and i don't know who
   went to the broadway but i sometimes
   went to the mill and toms, well toms
   was toms, and everybody went to toms
   but i wasn't cool and i think maybe
   i was afraid of that and yeah that was
   definitely different.
 
   and one day paul told me maria was
   dead. yeah, she had been hit by a car
   while crossing broadway on her way
   home from work and we went to the
   wake and it was my first one ever
   and even though i hadn't seen her
   i knew she looked different and when
   everyone went up and was kneeling
   i didn't know what to do so i just
   stood there sort of thinking and later
   that week my friends met at the broadway
   but i went to toms because somehow i was
   different
 
   senior year i lived three different
   places and hardly saw my friends.  i'd
   eat at different places and took all easy
   classes and never did my work but i got paid
   for being funny which everyone thought was cool
   but i was always tired and sometimes i'd go to
   the broadway by myself or to the place that made
   big pizza and i'd play video games.  i was really
   lonely and i'd see my friends at parties and we'd
   drink and laugh and laugh and drink and i hated
   feeling different and that was definitely
   different.
 
   and now last week i took my wife to tom's
   because the mill and the broadway, well they
   are long gone but toms, well toms is toms,
   and everyone there was eating hamburgers and 
   eggs and talking and laughing but the thing is
   i couldn't tell you who was cool and who wasn't
   cool or even who was a freshman and later on
   we saw these kids coming out of some other
   place, something that once seemed so important, 
   but now as i watch the crowd walk up Broadway 
   everyone seems the same to me.

-d








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