it's all true!

As usual, Hemingway and Tracy, arms locked around each others necks, were weaving along a sidewalk heading straight towards me. Blocking their way, on purpose mind you, they steered right into the Blue Café, and I followed, into a place that is always clean and well lit, sure to please the great writer.

Audrey Hepburn was sitting in a cushioned booth all alone peeling a banana and we stood against the wall under the prized mounted swordfish as though we were to be blindfolded and shot for treason, to watch in amusement and anticipation, waiting for her to discard the peel because we knew Buster Keaton would soon enter stage left from the swinging kitchen doors and painlessly somersault off the yellow springboard without losing his Pacific-blue pork pie hat or the steel tray with four glasses of water. He never failed to please, and his blank expression when he landed made us laugh until we were crying.

"Ok, which one of you gets the water," the great comic asked, and we'd start laughing all over again until our sides hurt and we'd stop breathing. It was especially nice to see Tracy laugh because the Blue Café was named after the great actor. He cried back on that day of dedication, but we all acted (poorly) as though we hadn't noticed. But Audrey, stretching on her ballet tippy toes, planted red lipstick on Tracy's cheek, and after awhile Hemingway nudged Tracy and whispered to him that the Mayor, unsuccessfully cutting the blue ribbon, had his fly open. I saw Buster Keaton smile.

Later, Audrey studied the menu seriously and ordered another banana.
I said, "I don't believe you've ever eaten in your life."
The great radiant actress smiled and answered, "It's all true!"
Buster surfboarded by with one foot balanced to perfection on used fruit and Hemingway pondered, "I wonder if an explosive banana would shatter that great stone face? Once, in Spain, a soldier tried to blow up a bridge with exploding fruit."