A Day in the Life
I set out on a trek yesterday, I needed to get from my dad's apartment to my mom's house...for those of you who don't know where either lives, or just can't picture how far that is, I've googled a map:
Basically I needed to get from one side of town to the other. I had no money, no cell phone and diesel shoes (which aren't the greatest for walking). In order to avoid the adventure of it all, I thought that I could just call my brother to come pick me up, but I needed a public phone, so I set out to find one. It took me about half a mile, but finally I came across one.....but get this....the obsolete piece of crap machine cost 50 cents!!!! FIFTY CENTS for a local call....but, of course with my luck, this pay phone refused my only quarters (I only had three). So, I sent out to find another. Half a block later, two turned up. Two just as ornery public pay phones who somehow had also forgotten their purpose in this world and also refused my quarters....I kept on. Finally, upon crossing the street a phone caught my eye and kind of glistened to me in the sunlight. I dropped my quarters in and made my over-priced call....My brother couldn't come.
So I walked.
I thought about taking side roads to avoid all the traffic and the plethora of people but suddedly a wonderful fantasy popped into my head of an old friend who heard that I was living in Mexico pulling up next to me, completely blown away that I was in The Nard and giving me a ride to the house. This happy thought kept me glued to the main roads.
The sun was shining on my left side and even though I couldn't really feel the heat penetrating my skin, I knew it was inevitable that I would be sunburned by the time I arrived to the house. Walking along, I got the typical gross, greasy old man stares. One passenger who was stopped at a Popeyes got out of the car as his driver buddy ordered their food and smiled at me. When I smiled back he, in an almost mockingly child-like voice, said "Are you a little cutie". When I shot him my "aren't you a disgusting man" look, he laughed a nervous laugh and replied "You have a very beautiful smile". Blowing him off by killing him kindly, I rolled my eyes and thanked him without facing him and travelled on.
I turned onto Ventura road, walking happily on the sidewalk, passing houses that I played at as a child and remembering falling of my bike, walking home from high school and playing silly pranks on people, until suddenly (and I had forgotten about this) Ventura road turned into a sidwalkless pedestrian death-trap and I had to stand there waiting for the millions of cars to clear the road before I could sprint across to the frontage road. When I hiked through the freeway flowers and bushes to get to the sidwalk there, I was almost run down by a mid-life crisised man in a mid-life crisis convertible corvette driving way too fast and honking way too loosely at me.
After crossing a street and getting back onto the main road, I ran into a semi-retarded boy who was walking out of Jack In The Box with a soda. He said hi to me and asked me if my name was Jessica. I told him no and that I didn't think we knew each other and introduced myself (mighty good pick-up line, I thought). He went on to tell me that he had just won $15 in a lottery scratcher and that he had used the money to buy lottery bingo (or something of the fashion). He then complimented me on my shoes saying, "those shoes make having two feet look good!" We made idol chit chat for a few more minutes before I told him that I really needed to get to my mom's house and said goodbye.
By the time I got to my mom's house I was hungry and dehydrated and grumpy but I felt good at the same time. It's been a LONG while since I have been able to safely walk around and talk to people without fear of being thieved or getting lost. I do have an awfully ugly sunburn on the left side of my neck and my left arm and my feet and ankles are still aching but that's a small price to pay for walking two hours in your home town, remembering good times and talking to good people.
