Shoes

: finally a decent night’s rest; linger in bed reading The Letters of Mina Harker by Dodie Bellamy; leave the house in my sky blue Oakland t-shirt to get coffee and laundry detergent; Crooked Fingers: “Sleep All Summer”; today will be domestic duties; separate the darks from the brights and lug the sausage-like bag along Geary like a sailor on leave; during the wash cycle get a Bloody Mary at The Blarney Stone, watch the Giants vs. Nationals game; as I fold DW texts about going to Dolores Park; I should/I shouldn’t… I do; stop to pick up sammies and Crystal Geyser; the park is swarmed with people, bodies, and dogs; DW and I lay on a towel making fun of people as they pass by and ourselves; Overheard: “I’m always mean to the people I like. I’m just weird that way.”; do these muscle queens have jobs? Are they all escorts?; “In the event of Western Civilization meltdown, I’m coming here. This is the best view in the whole city.”; R “Miss Thing” D shows up with wine, chips & salsa; “You know, when a major natural disaster strike this town you know evacuees will be more like this than the Astro-Dome,” I say. “I got my wine, cheese and SPF, I’m all set!” DW says; we crack jokes and sing songs, Lady Ha-ha, Lady Baa-Baa, Lady Tra La La, Lady Fa La La La La La La La La, “Unbreak My Heart”; we meet our neighbors, one of whom is a Sister; the bathroom line is ages, “Go by the tracks,” DW urges. “Everyone does.” I’m skeptical and nervous of a passing train but as soon as the deep smell of urine hits me and I notice the whole stairs and decaying platform is a urinal, I go; At Marlena’s drag queens lip-sync for their life and good looking boys offer come ons; the barback slaps my hand as I reach for a lemon twist; sun goes down, DW and I walk to Deco for his strip contest; a (maybe) street man in the bar offers to buy DW and I a drink, I refuse, “I don’t lie,” he proclaims. “My mother was a pin-up and a Ziegfeld girl. My father was in the military, saw her pin-up, and searched her out!”; leave before the show, hiking up Larkin; Liz Phair on the bus, decide against getting dinner; at home make toast and peanut butter, chat with TH, watch the short they made, finish folding laundry, take a shower, go to sleep.