Crunchy Fried Chicken

The weather was far too somber for the beach, let alone a lonely beach day but it was my first day off from work in eleven days. The thought of going to the beach with some cheap Cabernet in a thermos and having some fried chicken from the spot right below the Brighton Beach stop on the Q train was all I thought of after day six of work. I was living off 140^th and Amsterdam at the time in a real bad set up but it was all I could afford and equaled freedom, to do things like go to the beach on nonsensical days. The trip to Brighton beach took ninety minutes, first the 1 train then the Q. It had become clear from the Kings Highway stop that the clouds on this particular Tuesday were miserable and unwilling to give the sun a chance. I descended the above ground station headed first to the fried chicken spot. The chicken spot was busy with an air of regulars, not very happy ones at that. It couldn’t have anything to do with the chicken I thought, last summer I had some and it was memorably delicious. I made up my own combo of wings, thighs and fries at the price of $4.50. I couldn’t wait to see the ocean for the first time in a year. I had been sipping on my cabernet on the train ride and had started to feel real good. I wondered whether I had wine teeth and if I did, I wondered if the cute South American boy at the chicken spot had noticed.

Surprisingly at the time, there was a good amount of people on the beach, again that air of regulars but this time happy ones. Fat old Russian men with their fat old Russian wives in flower print one piece suits, they adorned the beach like Christmas ornaments on a tree. I sat close to a sleepy wrinkly orange man whose radio blasted some old French ballads, they were lovely. I wanted to pretend I was not in Brooklyn, escape the city, but there was no way I could pretend this was not Brighton beach. I dug my feet into the moist sand, it was cold but comforting. I opened my box of fried chicken as the wind began to blow sand onto my meal like an extra seasoning. I ate my crunchy chicken to the bone and it was just as I remembered.