This place is small, and the black vinyl seat cushions of the mini-couch I'm sitting on are cracked and peeling. My table is light brown, fake wood, rectangular and relatively big. The sun shines in on my back and I am quite warm. The chairs are metal with square reddish clay-colored back and seat cushions. To my left is a potted plant that creeps up to the low part of the ceiling; also in the same pot, seemingly independent from that vine is a stack of budding red flowers. Past the pot is a video game that is perpendicular to me, so I can't see the front. Next to the bar counter is a Miami Beach bumper game; it looks unplugged. A tube of whitish neon follows around the border of the ceiling. Above the bar there is a clock on the wall that is about five hours behind, or else seven hours ahead.

Outside sit four hologrammic silver tables and ten silver chairs. The metro entrance is only a few feet away; above the steps is a sign that rotates between two movie posters that are exactly the same. The movie is American, and the French title is "Emprise," whatever that means.

The coffee came with a packet of 2 sugar cubes. When the server came over, she flung the contents of my dark green plastic Heineken ashtray onto the floor behind her.