Different

Javier settles down on a bench near the highest spot in Franz Sigel Park. From here he can look out across the rooftops and catch glimpses of Yankee Stadium through the trees.

“You can‘t see this all the time,” he explains. “Once the leaves come back on the trees it’s completely different.”

Javier was looking for a fresh angle when he picked up his lunch at US Fried Chicken on Gerard Avenue.

“It’s quiet up here in the winter,” he says. “It’s a good spot to eat lunch and maybe smoke a cigar. You can rest and think and get yourself a whole new attitude.”

Javier digs into his lunch: fried chicken, potato salad, cole slaw and a roll.

“I got french fries, too,” he admits. “I shouldn’t have, but they sure taste good.”

He eats and soaks in the neighborhood on a warm February afternoon.

“It’s gonna be strange when the old Stadium is gone,” Javier says. “I’ve been sitting here for so many years that it’s hard to imagine it not peeking out at me.

“I’m not saying that will be bad,” he continues. “But it sure will be different.”

Indeed.