Frankie

Frankie parceled out soup for each of the homeless men.

Frankie blamed his own blackness for his school problems. His real issue was that so did his teachers.

Before arriving in Miami, he was known by his real name of Frankie King. Not Frank but Frankie; his mother had named him after the singer Frankie Laine.

The frankie, the Bombay street snack that Bombay Café brought to California and perfected, is great—sort of a thick flour tortilla with an egg sizzled onto it, wrapped around a filling of sweet, tamarind-laced lamb, stewed chicken or fried cauliflower. A frankie and a bottle of beer: You couldn't ask for a better lunch.