Another Friday Summer Morning

Walking to the store yesterday morning around 10:00 AM. The 1st thing that hits me as I go out into the light is the smell. Dog shit all over the grass. Many abandoned homes that look menacing and creepy. Lawns that haven't been cut in months. I walk down my street and watch the home boys watching me. I have to look right at them, I can't help it. They piss me off when they stare. I feel like shooting their little heads off.

I turn onto the main street and walk past the family planning center. A worn out street dude looks at me and waves and nods his head like he knows me. That random recognition always leads to the hit up for some change. I keep walking. There's bums and garbage all over the place. It looks like some low grade war was being fought. Bum soldiers. They look battle torn, bloodshot eyes, slow stumbling walk. They pick through garbage like their picking over corpses.

I keep walking. The store signs are mostly in Spanish. Little Central American children run by me screaming and chasing each other. I see a drunken/hobo in the doorway. His stench is so strong that I can smell him almost 10 feet away. He looks like Charles Bukowski. He has band-aids on his hands. His fingers are yellow from cigarettes. I breathe in, it's like trying to breathe in a rock. My breath just seems to stop like it doesn't want to go any further.

I turn the corner and go into the store and get what I need. The lady at the checkout asks me how I'm doing and I know she really doesn't want to know, so I don't say anything. These people always make me want to destroy. I leave the store.

The side of the shopping center is the place where several busses pick up & let off. Run down people of all types. They look like they're on their way to work. They all seem to have that bottomed out hopeless look about them. The more beaten down they look, the longer the shift is. I bet.

I pass that bum again and again I can smell him a mile away. I turn my head to the street and I see a beautiful girl on her bike. She has long blond hair and a blue tank-top. Her hair is streaming behind her. Ravishing!! As she goes, I look back at the bum I saw before and then back at the girl. What a view, what a trip.

I go to the bakery to get some Sourdough Bread & some muffins. The line is made up of two distinct groups, old Latinos and old Italians. The two groups aren't saying much to one another. The Latinos are speaking Spanish which for me is as foreign as someone speaking Arabic or Mandarin. There quiet, minding their own business. Many of them look worn out and tired. The Italians are much more talkative. There making a bunch of comments about how long the line is and how strange that is for this time of the day. They all look like something out of a Martin Scorsese film. I finally get to the counter. The girl was super friendly & attractive. She looks Italian. Dark hair, dark eyes. Pretty. She was super helpful and had a beautiful smile. I left and started making my way back to my home.