St. Patrick's, Scott Fitzgerald, Starbucks, And Father Frank

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In Long Beach, CA
I am about to drink
my jazillionth cup
of Starbucks coffee

In New York, NY
my one and only cup
of Starbucks coffee
was purchased on August 24, 2015
from the ground floor
of the building housing
Scott Fitzgerald's
literary agent,
Harold Ober

I carried my refill
five blocks—while
Mrs. CarPeo was
getting drilled
by her dentist
on the same floor
as the literary agency
which is still alive
and well 

This image was taken
outside the door
of the business office
of St. Patrick's Cathedral

In the late Nineteen Nineties,
Father Frank was the
"business administrator"
of St. Pat's but many people there
knew him as  Monsignor Oliverio

He told me that
his most satisfying experience
during those years was in Harlem:
officiating midnight basketball games
between Bloods and Crips

The only time they would fight
was when each gang insisted
on paying for the referee's
breakfast

In 2015, that referee's nephew,
with a jazillion pounds of bravado,
expected a royal carpet treatment
from the secretaries within
St. Patrick's business office
after informing them 
about his Uncle with the St. Patrick's 
sanctioned midnight mission

Intelligently,
One secretary ignored me
 
(Maybe I should have
told  them about the time
my Uncle gave directions
to Cardinal Cook on how to walk
around the St. Patrick's square city block
while the most important Catholic
in the United States was leading
a protest march)

The other secretary politely
gave me a Xeroxed timeline of 
Pope Francis' two days in New York City
which would commence
exactly one month from that day

That may explain why
half the people I saw inside
St. Patrick's  Cathedral
were construction workers

So I didn't feel guilty
about carrying a Starbuck's cup
while visiting the most sacred
Catholic church in America

The cup, however,
was trashed two weeks later

Mrs. CarPeo—despite her disappointment
we did not join the jazillion people
lining the streets to view
Pope Francis' motorcade—
saved the Xeroxed itinerary

As to its exact wherabouts,
you're guess is as good as mine     



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Footnotes
Like Father Frank before him,
Pope Francis also spent quality time
in Harlem

I wish I could say the same thing
about Scott Fitzgerald

But Scott and Zelda did get married
at St. Patrick's Cathedral

The next Fitzgerald page is  here

I wish I could say
I linked all my Father Frank pages together

But divine intervention would not allow

Happy googling to anyone
who has read this page
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