Nighhawk With No Diner

I just got back from a short early morning bike ride…nobody around ‘cept the big rig trucks passin’ thru and the morning paper delivery people…all done by cars now—when I was a kid it was done with bicycles and a large canvas bag wrapped around the handlebars. Kids still deliver the local paper by bikes in the afternoons, but the early papers outta Fort Wayne & Toledo are delivered by nimble old folks jumping outta their ancient Oldsmobile station wagons and 1979 Ford Econoline vans.
This early hour is also used by the soda machine people. Apparently there are two vendors who service these machines…once I saw the two almost come to blows over something…I guessed it was over territory…one had set in a machine in the other’s territory.
This town used to be at least a little lively; within a few blocks from home I could find coffee and conversation at 4:00 A.M at three different places…now all are closed or have restricted their hours severely. Just west of me a couple blocks was the newsstand…last month the guy shuttered it…no time to take care of business , he’s a cop who got promoted, so he shut it up.
I have looked into the possibility of taking it over, but , of course, always obstacles—in this case the building rent is about what I could make selling magazines and coffee and pancakes!