Hi again – this week we’re supposed to work on “setting.”  As I was walking with Al yesterday in town I commented “It happened right here.  This is where “I” was shot.”  It’s funny how the imagination just takes over.  I don’t think I will ever walk past that spot on the sidewalk now without thinking how that was where I imagined the ugly incident took place.  Why there?  Who knows?  Like the old song says “Imagination, is funny…”

Here’s a background setting, again for my assignment…

I am feeling content walking to BART today.  I feel grateful that I have a good job in an upscale town where, if bad things happen, they only happen behind closed doors.  The dead patches of ground between the trees that separate the sidewalk from the parking lot are proclaiming that the winter sun now teasing us with strong heat is not a fluke – here and there tiny spikes of green poke up through the dirt, and the first bulbs of spring that were planted by the town maintenance crew in October have made their brave debut.   The blue sky has chased away the rain and fog and welcomes instead an occasional cauliflower cloud to soften the introduction of the hot sun once again.  In the summer we might consider this a cool day, but today I bask at the corner stoplight like a lizard on a log, my light sweater draped over my shoulders to capture the warmth.

As usual when I begin my afternoon commute, the seductive smell of garlic from the pizza parlor tempts me to forego a healthy meal at home and grab a slice before catching the train- in the morning it is the sticky sweet smell of Jimmy’s Donuts and coffee vying for my attention.   I am considering today whether I want to risk my life for pizza.  It would require wending my way through the parking lot, which was never intended for the amount of people and cars that populate this once private enclave for UC Berkeley physicists.  SUVs almost backing into tiny sports cars is a common occurrence.  Horns toot frequently as frazzled mothers who are late to pick up their kids from after school sports become impatient with the little old men picking up prescriptions who can barely see over the steering wheel of their Lincoln Continentals.  The strip mall is vintage 1960s but the storefronts explain why the parking lot is always so busy – Trader Joe’s, CVS Pharmacy and Roger’s Foods anchor smaller stores that have kept the mall alive for forty years:  Billington’s Toys Est.1960,  Helen’s Travel Treks, Rospenda Jewelers and the tiny US Post Office.

The sky blue 1966 Plymouth Valiant sits in stark contrast to the other cars in the parking lot of this strip mall, which might be mistaken for a used car lot of high end vehicles – Mercedes sedans, BMW convertibles, shiny new hybrids and Smart Cars .  I see the bumper sticker on the parked car and laugh out loud: “I’m Married…not Dead.”  There are other bumper stickers on the car – “Hungry? Eat an Environmentalist!” and “Hang Up and Drive!” and “I’d Rather Be Workin’ on the Railroad” plastered haphazardly on the back bumper…

That’s it.  You know where this is going.  This will all be put together by the end of the class.  I never though I’d be writing a piece of fiction but there you go.  Learn something new every day – about yourself, if you’re paying attention…