Palisades, Santa Monica Beach

"Well have to shave that tooth a bit, otherwise the mouth piece won't fit properly."
 "Go ahead Doc. Probably need to pull it later. This is only a temporary until my mouth is fitted for the  undertaker...Do you enjoy being a dentist?"
  'I had been a biochemist but as they say, degrees don't matter. It is all about money. I loved my first profession but it did not provide for family of five. It is work!"
    I am sitting at Beach Dental in Huntington Beach getting a new stent fitted for my mouth.  Dr. Tran  is doing the honors. I had lost my front tooth about  one month ago.  I had bitten down on a crust of Ralph's French bread it bolted out. That was one month ago, and I have learned to live with a hole in my mouth.
   Albertsons is the flag store for this street mall. It shares space with a recycle store. The large black bags carry cans, bottles and other plastic waste items. It is early and several are lighting up an electric cigarettes. Inside Albertsons,  Starbucks is already doing a hefty business. Sample coffee cakes with Mocha drinks and lattes are sold every two minutes.
   There is a FedEx and hair salon next to the large store. The Hoag Hospital is to my left.  Inside it resembles a Hilton Hotel, unlike Kaiser's that looks like rush hour traffic in downtown Cairo, Egypt. Beach Dental sits in front of the mall expecting a large draft of customers. I was drafted about one month ago, and that is where I am now having a mouth piece adjusted. Like a pipe stem molder, the thin Vietnamese doctor is molding and the piece to fit inside my 76 year old mouth.
   "How old are the kids."
   "One is five, another two and the baby four and a half months."
    "Just bet you get little sleep. Do you have A.C."
    'Sure do! Wife would leave me without it. How in the hell could she breast feed the baby in this stifling heat...Did you know Mr. Garrett that the Egyptians were the first to do root canals. They replaced teeth with wooden fillers."
   While Dr. Tram adjusted my mouth piece, I reflected on the Egyptian mummies. Why yesterday nary-a-one read a book in the lobby of the Beach Dental Group. .I spied seven Mom's and their tigers on cell phones -- and of course neglecting the conversing skills.
   Why it was my God Hashem who told the Jews to worship him, and not false idols. I smiled when my eyes focused on a little gal studying from her notebook. I wondered if kids today even owned notebooks.
   Yet I still needed to go to Los Angeles, the once City of Angels, to visit my daughter. Even a tooth that bolted from the top, and a nasty phone call from Helen my manager could not keep me from my number two daughter.
    Twelve thirty is the best time to take the 405 to Los Angeles. The legendary  Factors Deli is on Pico off of Beverly Blvd. Since our Yorkie came with us, the hostess ushered us to an outside back table. Both of us ordered Matza Ball soup. She wanted fresh pickles. I also ordered half of a pastrami sandwith also a not pastrami.
   The pastrami was just what I needed to jump start my body after the long drive. Even Oscar, our Yorkie got pastrami end-cuts -- and my oh my how his tail wagged. Why he just about jumped on the table.  The $25 bill was a bit steep, say I, but across from me sat my creation, my own flesh-in-blood daughter.
   Now I had a few hours to blow before I went to a 12 step meeting in Roxbury Park. The Big Blue off of Pico took my to Santa Monica. The other riders got off in Santa Monica with their little kids but I got off on Fourth and Santa Monica Blvd.
  There is something about Santa Monica in October that makes me feel that Xmas time is hear. I walk towards Ocean and Palisades Park. No western breeze hits me. Instead its a..."Watch out with those skate boards, you could have killed me.!" I cross Third Street, or tried to cross it when a black Cadillac almost polished my shoes.
   A cross section of the world are the tourists. The Japanese carry cameras and take pictures of everything. The British Pub is busy as usual as the smell of draft caresses my nose I feel like a pint of larger but know my budget does not allow it. A few homeless cuss Obama as I walk across Ocean Blvd.
  Palisades Park will soon be lighted up with Christmas displays. A bike nearly rear-end me. Nora's  hot dog truck is selling dogs faster than you can put mustard on one. A patron told me that it is meaty with lots of condiments. He bought the longer six dollar dog. To my side is the bridge to the other side. But what a view. I remember in the forties when we belonged to a club with an indoor and outdoor pool. Down below to my right is a long tiled staircase that leads to the bridge to the beaches
   While F.D.R. became president in 1932, the name changed to the Roosevelt Highway. Now it was called P.C.H for Pacific Coast. Along the way north are the cities of Malibu, Ventura. Santa Barbara and so forth. You might skip the freeways and take this scenic route to Moro Bay, Cambria and all the way to Carmel and Monterey.
   It is time for me to return to Pico and Roxbury. I hear shouting. On Ocean Avenue pickets display anger that a worker at the Shore Hotel had been fired. It appears that the  hotel fired her for exposing the hotel for their misdeeds. I picked up the Big Blue Bus on Fourth and Colorado. The Expo Line had been completed and soon Santa Monica will double in crime and population.

 Nuts and Blots for today: There is only one truth-and it is God's. Just wait awhile and he will direct you -- and same lots of negative energy.