03.21.23“Best view in the city, huh?”
I flashed him a sheepish grin, and then, feeling I owed him some more, a thumbs up too.
“You’ve got the water, the hills, and the hood.”
The girl he was with said something inaudible to him. “I was talking to him.” She noticed me and said oh, sorry, and smiled. He disappeared into the corner store denoted only by ATM in navy lettering on a lit white sign. A moment later he emerged with the girl still and a small bottle of whiskey.
“Where else you get the shanties by the water? The only two places in the world where you can get the shanties next to the water, are here, and Brazil. In Brazil, once a year, everyone from the shanties comes down to the beach and robs the people on the beach.”
I was sitting on top of the hill by the soccer field looking down and he was looking up. I don’t know much about Brazil or whether the people from the shanties rob the people on the beach. He was right that here they were by the water. I was sitting on the threshold between them and the other side of the hill, where the people leave passive aggressive notes on your car, even when you’re not blocking their driveway but they just like to have some extra room. The distinction between the two sides is recent. If I had looked north instead of south I would have seen the skyscrapers of the financial district stretching up into the sky. Then, though, I was looking south, at the lights shimmering on the highway and the shanties down by the water.
It was true that it didn’t make sense for them to be there. After living in the city for a time I’ve become accustomed to bizarre contrasts, usually related to wealth but not always. One of the only walkable places in the country and all of the jobs exist an hour away by car. It’s a luxury to own one but many on the road have no drivers. It’s the birthplace of the counterculture movement and now the home for tech giants that incorporate and control. All that remains of the movement are the “nomads”, who choose to be homeless and sit outside of the Jimi Hendrix Red House smoking pot.
Maybe some of these things were on his mind. I was sitting on top of the hill in sandals and it was obvious to both of us which side I belonged to. I don’t know if he hated me but it would make sense if he did. I got home and opened up my email to find that my company had posted great performance in the last quarter and was laying off thousands of people.
