I really didn’t plan to write about Bernie Giusto again. But – c’mon – could you really resist blogging about the fact that you had a prime view of Bernie’s jeans-clad butt while you enjoyed your morning scramble & he paid the bill for his table of four?

Well, I can’t.

See, my initial dismay at the 40 minute promised wait turned to glee when I did a quick scan of the very tiny room and spotted Giusto (wearing an impeccably pressed light blue button-down and the aforementioned jeans), his female companion (Lee Doss, perhaps?), and two younger adults crowded around a table already. “Look! We have a celebrity in the house!”, I crowed, already starting to write this post in my head.

My dining companion looked over, chuckled, and then blanched as he looked back at me, saw the gleam in my eye & figured out where my mind was heading. See, he thinks I should leave well enough alone already. “Crazy as it sounds. I’m one of those guys who felt a little sorry for Nixon”, he said. He even believes I shouldn’t tell anyone just where we had brunch.

I think he was more than a little afraid that I’d try to pull a Citizen Journalist bit, whip out a reporter’s pad, and approach Bernie with a ‘few questions.’ In fact, I was told in no uncertain terms to “let the man eat in peace, and rip him to shreds later. He’ll be tortured enough next week.”

But I knew better than to say a word to the guy. After all, he’s still the sheriff in these here parts. And while I’m a law-abiding citizen and all, what’s to prevent him from acting out this scenario (as detailed in the O’s article earlier this week)?:

Out of the blue, the sheriff started talking about the awesome power he had, saying that he could arrest someone even if they were innocent, let them loose, and they’d have to deal with the specter of the arrest…

When I reassured my friend that I’d stick to some private snarky speculation (just who ordered the last quiche of the day, hmmm?) and leave the man alone already, he nodded approvingly.

“He’s still the sheriff. Even Rosco P Coltrane had friends…”

But I never said I wouldn’t blog about it afterwards…!