我又来三藩了San Francisco, Again

One weekend in June 2024 we went to see the Egyptian museum in San Jose. It was closed. Through the palms we got the columns, striped like another continent’s, and that was the whole visit.

The neighborhood around it was open. Gardens kept up, driveways swept, a Camry and a red Mustang out front, like dogs waiting for their owners.

Our own car had nothing going on inside either, except the afternoon, which had let itself in and was lying on the leather.

The next day we drove north with the same amount of plan, and the afternoon went to Valencia Street.

There was light left, so we kept going west until the street ended at the ocean.

The Camera Obscura was at its post on the terrace. The restaurant above the rocks has been closed for years. We looked in through the glass anyway: dust and a few loose screws on the counter, and every window still full of ocean.

By eight the haze had gone pink. One figure had walked out to the very end of the rocks, waves coming in below.

Two more sat on the warm side of the rocks, in jackets. Hey, not us. We watched the sunset out and shivered home.