A rear-view taken at 6:01 pm yesterday of two businesses on the south side of the 1300 block Kingsway: to the left, Phoung Uyen Video & Coin Laundry, and to the right, Cheo Leo, which specializes in Cafe, Banh Mi and Sinh To (a fruit shake).
Years ago, when Kim Chau was mysteriously closed for the day, I went across the street to Cheo Leo for my banh mi ga, which the counterperson tried to give me for free and, because I refused to be taken for a cop, left on the counter.
"How do you know they're not just being nice?" said a regular at the old Cedar Cottage Cafe (now a hole in the ground next to Kim Chau), where I complained about my treatment.
"That's just it -- they're not just being nice; they're scared, too. They're scared of me, and I find that upsetting; being seen as an agent of fear, people behaving nicely because they're afraid of what they think I represent. I find that a kind of living hell."
"Well, you know what Baudelaire has to say about fear disguised as friendliness."
"No, what?"
"I'm asking you! You're always going on about the guy. I thought he'd having something to say about it."
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