I don’t usually like to spend time alone, but I’m in San Francisco for a week and my sublet apartment has no couch, just a bed and a chair. My friends in the city are either married or work nights. One Tuesday, I was sitting at the kitchen counter eating lentil soup for dinner. After reading, I walked over to the empty living room couch and sat under the overhead light, browsing through files on my laptop. This is not a way of life. I told myself, “Let the guys go hug each other.” So I went to a bar by myself. I was waiting for something to happen.
A basketball game was playing simultaneously on multiple monitors.
The bar had red faux leather booths, Christmas lights, and a female bartender. A lesbian couple was huddled at one end. Finally, just around the corner from where I was sitting, a handsome man about my age was watching the match. We looked at each other in surprise, a man and a woman at the bar. Then I pretended to watch the match on the monitor so I could look away. He turned to look at the audience at the pool table where pool players were being praised for some heroic act. A week later, there were no chairs left in the room I left, just the bed and the chair.
My friends in the village are either married or work the night shift.
I was eating lentil soup at the kitchen counter for dinner one Tuesday. When I was done, I went to a chair in my empty living room and sat under the bright lights and turned on my new laptop screen. This is not a way of life. Men should go hug each other, I told myself. So I go to a bar by myself. I’m waiting for something to happen. A basketball game is playing simultaneously on multiple monitors. The bar has red faux leather booths, Christmas lights, and a female bartender. A lesbian couple is hugging at one end. At the other end of the field, in the corner of where I was sitting, a man with glasses, about my age, was watching the match. We looked at each other at the bar, a man and a woman. Then I pretended to watch the match on the monitor, which made me look away. He turned towards me and looked at the pool table. There, pool players were celebrating a success. After a few minutes, they both burst out laughing. Someone came up to me and told me why they were laughing. He handed me his phone and pointed to the Facebook post. I read the letter and smiled happily. The man sat back down. I’ll have a beer. The sofa was covered with a wool blanket woven in a Navajo pattern, a version of the San Francisco pattern my friend called “white savage.” When I moved in, the receipt for the blanket was on the mantelpiece. It cost $228. The fireplace has a cast-iron stove. I fiddled with the switch and the battery, but I had no idea how to light it.
At night the room was hot and pale like a corpse.
There is no television there. br>After watching “Life Out of Balance” go for a drink at the Castro. We became friends and explored the area. A good idea has a way of drawing other people to it. I also realized that the body is not a second place. The mind has little truth, but the body has the ability to hold it. When two bodies come together, there is nothing important that will not happen soon. This temptation is temporary, as the body commands. We kissed, he told me about his special cannabis plant, we talked about Brazil. Then I went home and never spoke to him again.
