Another Day in Surf City

It was a bit cold, but not too cold while I waited for the #33 bus. In back of me was the Sub and Pacific Bank, with Home Depot to my back and a little right of me. I was dark, real dark and I took a flash light so the bus could see me. Inside my nap sack I packed three drum sticks, potato slices and an orange.
   The Green Farmer's market is within my budget. Two pounds of Norwegian Mackerel cost three and change, two large juicy oranges 75 cents, two pounds of drumsticks $1.23 and fresh red lettuce $75 cents. I had grilled the drumsticks and places three left-overs inside my sack.
    The bus arrived and I placed a dollar into a slot and dropped two quarters into the change department. The bus driver placed a ticket into a slot and I took the all-day pass when it shot back up from the machine. The bus, as always, was filled by the boat people, many from Westminster. Like the bus driver, they hate white people who had entered their country and caused the death of their loved ones.
     The war in Vietnam was none of our business and it was one war that we lost. On the bus sat about thirty ladies and three men. These were the lucky ones that General Gap did not kill as he invaded South Vietnam. They were lucky to have embarked from Saigon just as the  Communists invaded their country.
     I heard a lot of high pitched excited noise when entering the bus. The bus was filled with the boat people who had escaped Vietnam after the war and made it to Southern California and Camp Pendl he General Giaboat people as always joi I looked up and saw the cutest sight in the land. I have never seen a race of people so happy. Not a sad face in the bunch. A few removed their flip flops displaying clean feet with no nail polish on their toes   None wore makeup since they don't have to. They had learned to enjoy each day to the fullest. Smart to run early by the waters edge before the toxic air becomes alive.
     They live for the most part in their little hamlet of Westminster, just inside of Surp City. Their are almost 200,000 of these happy faces.
    The bus continued on Magnolia passing Adams and then Edison High School. Not one unhappy on the faces of these boat people. They knew how to row their boats to the promised land, Huntington Beach. As mentioned before, they could have been cast from the same mold.
    The bus now crossed P.C.H. and stopped at the round-about stop at the large parking lot. They looked to be in a hurry to get on with the day. No smart phones in the lot, they mounted a charge to the lifeguard tire and did their exercises. A smaller number walked east and to the bus stop going east towards New Port beach, Dana Point and finally its last stop, San Clemente. 

 The last to leave bus, I placed my nap sack over my shoulders and walked west on the cement strand strand. The fresh smell of the salt water quickened my steps. A few surfers rubbed their boards with was preparing their woods for the ocean. They locked their vans and ran towards the ocean. It made me shiver a bit even though they wore wet suits.
  After awhile, I smiled with the knowledge that my fight to replace my tarnished life with a special varnish. I began to feel like a two year old, when it was OK to laugh, cry or sleep to my hearts content
   To my left were several tents and sleeping bags on the beach. It appeared that the police allowed them to sleep on the beach. To my right a young gal began to pass me. I thought my walk was fast but I guess that her strides were a bit longer than mine. Soon, she would be only a dot on the horizon
    After about two miles, I decided to stop and read notes from a journal against a small concrete barrier. To my left a tent began to wiggle. i removed my journal glad that I was on sand and not the water
    At about seven thirty, I continued my walk towards the Slurp City Pier. Just south of the Hilton I saw some folding chairs being set up for my A.A. meeting. Just like a kid playing in the sand, this large group meeting is my sand box and has done wonders for shine I would place on my mind today.