M Train

Smith recalls living in Michigan with Fred and their children. She used to get coffee from a nearby 7-Eleven and drink it in a parking lot behind a fish-and-tackle store. The lot was whitewashed, and she thought it looked like Tangier in Morocco, though she had never been. 

In the present, Smith visits Café ’Ino and finds her usual table occupied by a woman who refuses to cede it to her. Smith fumes and imagines what would happen to this woman if they were in an episode of a crime drama like Midsomer Murders or Luther. She has a debate with her conscience and eventually leaves the café, roaming the streets of New York for a time. She ends up at Caffè Dante and orders a pot of chamomile tea. She drinks it and thinks about her dream that morning about the Battle of Shiloh during the Civil War. She wonders why she had this particular dream and why people dream the things they do. As she leaves the café, “What a Wonderful World” by Louis Armstrong starts playing. She starts to cry and tries not to listen to the song. 

In another dream, the cowpoke tells her, “If you don’t have one, then everyone is your valentine” (89).