Hole In The Wall

There is a book store on Sunset Blvd. It's squeezed between a closed down laundromat and a Check-into-Cash.

The guy behind the register wore thick black glasses and his gaze bore a hole in the wall. He couldn't care less who came in.

Instead, I was greeted by aged paper musk. This was no Barnes & Noble. Bookshelves as high as the ceiling were bursting with Bukowski to Vonnegut. Books were stacked on top of each other. Some were read and some were crisp. Alphabetical order? What order? 

Literary gems were found by scanning and picking a title that stuck out. 

     These Days Are Ours - Michelle Haimoff

I flipped to a random page and took a glimpse into another world. Something about 9/11, ghosts, and space. I put it back and scanned on. Each step squished a squeak out of the wooden floorboards. 

     JD Salinger. Squeak.
     Stephen King. Squeak.
     Oscar Wilde. Squeak.

The back of the store held a small cafe with a few tables. A man in purple slacks and Doc Martins was writing out his genius.

"What can I get you?"

The girl in front of the espresso machine smiled. Her blue eyes beamed behind leopard print glasses and a Pabst Blue Ribbon bandana kept her scattered blond hair out of her face. She had on a bright yellow shirt from the World Cup couple weeks ago. It matched the high-waisted jean shorts.

"I'll have a small coffee. Thanks."

It tasted like library books but I kept on sipping. 

Works from local artists formed a mosaic on the red brick wall. 

Kaleidoscope acid trips
People watching
LA sketches

The man writing in the corner looked up for a second, tapped his pen on his lips twice then went back to scribbling. 

This was a place where legends were born.

This was a place where they came to die. 

A hole in the wall littered with letters.

SS

Quotes

• The apple may be beautiful and delicious, but it's the tree that matters.
• Idle hands are the devil's workshop
• A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they will never sit in.
• All the water in the world cannot sink a ship unless it gets inside."
• A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor.
• "'The root of knowledge is bitter, but it's fruits are sweet.' Persist in hard times."
• "If you do strange things, strange things will happen."
• "If you are depressed, you are living in the past. If you are anxious, you are living in the future. If you are at peace, you are living in the present."
• "If you love a flower, don’t pick it up. Because if you pick it up it dies and it ceases to be what you love. So if you love a flower, let it be. Love is not about possession. Love is about appreciation."
• Man cannot remake himself without suffering for he is both the marble and the sculptor.
• Give someone a mask and they'll show their true face.
• Be like the flower that gives its fragrance to even the hand that crushes it.
• If you are more fortunate than others, it's better to build a longer table than a taller fence.
• Most of the Problems in my life are due to two reasons: I act without thinking, Or I think without acting.
• If you only do what you've always done, you'll only get what you've always got.

Sun Kissed

"I drove my lips inside of her lips. It was like entering the guts of a flower. She was nailed to the sun and I was the sun." -Bukowski

Cheap Love

     "Come over?"

          "What for?"

     "Just, can you come over please?"

          "What for?!"

     "I'm lonely. I need someone to hold me."

Someone... Like it could be anyone.
She probably checked off a list of boys till my name was next.

There was nothing wrong with her but I'm the jealous type and I didn't appreciate myself being part of a list.

          "I'm busy, we'll get dinner tomorrow okay?"

     "I hate you."

Click.

That pissed me off. She loved me enough to call me off a list but hated me when I denied her. Fuck that. I hoped the next guy on the list blew her off too. But I knew he wouldn't. Most guys jump at the chance of intimacy. I'm not most guys. That shit is cheap "love".

-

     "Hey, are we still having dinner?"

          "Yea, I'll pick you up at six."

     "Okay! See you!"

There was a sting of hypocrisy and I hated myself for it. But I did offer her dinner as consolation and I'm a man of my word. I pride myself in keeping it no matter how much hit my pride took.

I arrived at her place exactly at six.

     "Hey, I'm here."

           "Okay! Sorry give me a minute!"

She took eight minutes.

     "Hi! Missed you! I'm starving."

She smelled like flowers and looked just as pretty. I forgot that she had kept me waiting. Call me vain but I love being around beautiful women. I get high off the jealous glances of other men. We sit down at D'Angelos, a small italian restaurant in the heart of Koreatown.

     "So, tell me about your day."

That usually got her talking. She told me about the fat co-worker stuffing her face again. Then complained some more about having too much to do at work. She blabbered the same mundane parts of her life as she did last week at dinner. I made some crude joke and she laughed like it was the funniest thing she'd heard. Frankly, its always the same joke.

She made me feel lonely. They all made me feel lonely. I didn't have much choice though because without her, I would really be alone. Cheap love I guess has its value.

I dropped her off and hugged her good night. She smelled like flowers but I wished it was someone else in my arms.

SS