The Frisco Trip Epilogue

No tears, Nathan, no tears. Be strong, and maybe one day you can return to this amazing land.

As I packed up my clothes, and various accumulated items, I was studied by Puck, the giant, social cat of good humor. He was keeping my company and seemed expectant and polite. It was nice, because it didn’t seem like a good-bye. More like a “See ya, later.” And that’s how I would like to view this part of the trip to Frisco.

We had to get up early to head to the Jack London Square Bus Station in time for my train. Dennis had even gone so far as to cook up some pesto pasta (homemade pesto, at that!) for my return trip to Anaheim. It was a much better choice than the stale sandwiches that I might have had to assemble.

We got to the Train Station with over half an hour to spare. So Veronica and Dennis sat with me for a while and we talked about the trip and other potential trips on the train. It was a nice send-off. They soon took off, and my train arrived within a few minutes.

The trip back would also be Train-Bus-Train, but this time around the leg of the trip on the bus would only be four hours, which was a VAST improvement. I finished up the last of my pod casts that I had on my iPod, and started reading The Gone-Away World, the book I had bought at City Lights. The book is pretty interesting so far, if a little scattershot at the moment. I’m not sure if this is the point, or if the author honestly can’t make up their mind on what they want to write. But still a good choice of a read (thanks for the suggestion, Sarah!)

I shoot some texts around, play a hand of solitaire, briefly contemplate trying to grab some sleep, and wonder at what the kid in front of me was crying about. His mom was definitely at a loss to what the fuss was about. Though I don’t speak Chinese, so I’m at a loss as well.

I arrive at Anaheim at around 9:00 pm, and get to my car, and head home. After I detail some of my exploits and memorable moments in Frisco to my parents, I haphazardly unpack and go to sleep. Cuz the vacation is over, and I have work at 8:00 am tomorrow morning.

Ugh.

But my last thoughts about San Francisco? It’s a helluva town, with amazing food, and crisp, cool weather. But what’s even better? I have family there, and now I know that’s a fact, instead of just in theory.

BIG THANKS TO DENNIS AND VERONICA, THE BEST DANG COUSINS A MOOK LIKE ME COULD ASK FOR! See ya down the road, cuz…

-Nate

Little Late For An Epilogue

Waking up was very difficult. What with all my muscles yelling at me all at once to go back to sleep. As I got up, I was struck with just how easy it had been to get up and go in past mornings. It was a mix of slow motion and a bad bender. But I still had to get rolling to work, and the simple need for continued finances were as good a reason as I could ever get to be responsible.

Work at Norwalk was more of a blur than usual. Before I knew it, I was the only one there. Cable casting was a little more of a crowded dance card than the average schedule, so I didn't get out till nearly 8:00 pm.

I went to El Torito to have dinner with Patrick M., and we came to an almost unspoken decision to talk about anything and everything. Good stuff.

Topics of Conversation @ El Torito: Kendo stances, the middleman, High School drama of old, reaching personal goals, progress pictures, charismatic charm, the metaphorical Titanic, dirty fighting by Masters, Little-Too-Late Luigi, getting too bulky, Genki the Cock-Blocking Fool, the Obvious Setup, shifty facebooking, thinking into corners, the Grand Scheme, Kalinski, etc.

The last bit made me realize that I had never finished up the little Noir bit I made up for Patrick's crazy story from back in January. Let's see if that can be rectified.

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The Big Pay Off (EPILOGUE)

Kalinski had handed me a check with a fishy smell, and I was never partial to seafood. I headed to one of the only places that could rob me with a PIN, and talked to one of the nametags in charge of the cash.

"See, what I got here is a piece of paper with my name on it, but I'm wondering if I would choke on the strings attached," I said to the teller.
"How much?" asked the bank rep.
"2 G's," I replied.
"That spells trouble," stated the banker.
"Bad words?" I said.
"From a nasty alphabet," replied the banker.
"Well the new word is 'Cancel,'" and I was done with Kalinski's lousy vocabulary.

But Kalinsi had to have the last word.

I got a phone call as soon as the sun wanted attention.
"Mr. Patrick," said the infamous Kalinski, "Is my money in transit? What is the status?"
"Well, Kalinski," I said through morning grogginess and late night whiskey, "I had a sit down with my money people, and they said the low down on the cash flow was that it wasn't on the up and up, you dig?"
Kalinski had hung up before I was done. I guess he didn't dig.

The big pay off was a big let down.

But at least I still had an interesting life.

-FIN-

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Okay, that amused me more than anything else was going to. Thanks for reading.

-Nate