All In a Day

Today was a super hot sunny California day.  I decided to "work out" so I drove myself over to Silverlake, where I booked it around the reservoir.  It was beautiful.  I used to live in that neighborhood.  It was a very fruitful, fun time in my life.  I was working at a Hollywood hotspot, making bank and I danced once a month in an infamous Burlesque show.  We performed at the El Rey.  I was one of the chorus girls, we would dance in between the main acts. It was incredible.  We dressed in these really cool, sexy costumes and provided the comic relief, we kind of stumbled around the stage and did a provocative shimmy here and there.  Everyone loved the chorus girls, we were a hit.

After my power walk I went to one of favorite food stands, called Siete Mares (Seven Seas).  I always get the Coctel de Camaron (shrimp cocktail) and it is the bomb.  It fit into my new no carb program.   So yummy.  As I was getting out of my car someone started shouting my name.  Who could possibly recognize me, I had big sunglasses on, messy wild hair and sweatpants.  I was trying to avoid seeing anybody I knew at all costs.  Well this time, my incognito look did not work.  The person shouting my name was a former co-worker, he came sprinting across the street and gave me a big hug.  We sat together and had lunch.  We reminisced about the late nights at this Mexican restaurant where we worked, he was a busboy and I was a waitress.    We danced into the wee hours and did the limbo with movie stars.  He was now a fancy shmancy bartender downtown makin the big bucks.  I was proud of him.

When I got back to my hood, it was almost time for me to venture into work.  I ran up my stairs, tore off my sweaty clothes and showered.  I brushed my hair (finally) threw on a black and white polka dot dress, red high heels and then hopped into my car for the 2 minute drive to work.  I park in an alley off of La Brea Blvd. where two homeless people have been camping out for the last year.  It's a blonde southern woman in her 60's and her "daughter", who really is a transvestite hooker.  I often wondered how they ended up there.  One of these days I will ask them.

When I pulled up a cop was stopped and talking to them from his car.  I found that I have become protective of my homeless friends.  They are probably some of the very few people I see on a consistent basis, it's some sort of stability for me.  When the cruiser pulled away, I marched down there to scope out the scene.  Chanel, the tranny had a clay mask on, I see her do this beauty routine about twice a week.  She was packing up her bed and moving it to the other side of the alley.  "Is everything ok?" I asked her.  "That cop said we have to keep our stuff on one side of the alley or the other, he's coming back tomorrow to give us a ticket."  "What? How much?"  "Three Hundred and Eighty Four dollars."  I couldn't believe it.  How were they going to pay that ticket!?  They were living in an alley!!  That cop was a d-bag.

I walked into work and the air conditioning calmed me.  I was ready for my night.  I thought about Chanel and her mom and wondered how I could help them.