My Great Escape

It's great to lie back and leave the world behind. A retaining wall separates the sand from the bike path from the beach. The Great Escape, about 10 Hungarian Jews who fled Budapest in the nick of time before the war is my , is my food while I enjoy the four o'clock breeze. My sun block is the retaining wall and serves as my bed stand. I prop my head up and lie down. My lungs relax and I can breath again.
   The number one across from the Waterfront Hilton took me three stops to my exit. Homelessness is pervasive on this bus. Black bags, knap sacks and depressive looks greeted me before my exit. The Mexican bus driver is stoic and has no smile for me or for the man who boarded after me. Bags and bodies are strewn everywhere. Some appear dead, and I feel lucky to have s roof over my head.
    "Didn't you see me? What is your hurry you f..."
    The bus driver does not react to the man with three full bags. They are his lives possessions. He will sleep at a shelter or find a store front to place his sleeping bag tonight. With the Santa Ana's it is clear without a hint of rain in the air.
     My #33 bus will come at the entrance of the Magnolia and P.C.H.stop in about forty minutes. In between glances of the book, I enjoy watching the bikers. It is their way to unwind from a hectic day. Some are built for two or even three to ride them 
      In back of me the mechanics of volleyball are taught to a college from the Harbor. I listen in while I sit on a small retaining wall with the Catalina mountains and a beautiful orange and yellow hue as the sun begins its descent into tomorrow as my back drop. The instructor is strict as she tells her student how to bump the ball. 
      "Spread your legs, and get them close to ground....Good but even lower!" 
       She throws the marble to her pupil and the pupil leans to one side hitting an angular pellet. 
      "Told you to stay down, and not move your legs. Point and lift the gall with your arms parallel to each other. 
Now as a volleyball guru I know that staying down and letting the body energize the arms is the way to bump the ball...but I see that my number 33 bus has arrived. I say good by to the beach and head to Von's off of Atlantic. 
    Vons' Market is my favorite market for meat when on sell. Juan, their butcher told me that a New York cut would be on sell for three ninety five a pound. I buy three of them and some greens and sit next to the register and watch the whales cart their many groceries out the door. Why some have filled two, yes two shopping carts, and their bodies show it.
    Buy now, got to grill my steaks, medium well...if you please.