Tuesday, May 1, 2018

Beginning of Berkeley Noir piece


Lacking Reception
Allison Landa

I may never live to be 100 – God, I hope I don’t – but even if I do, I will never, never understand the compunction to yap on the phone in public. Especially when you’re supposedly working out at the gym. Especially when you’re standing – standing, not using – on the treadmill that I always prefer.

I mean, this woman? She’s a sow. Porcine to the max. It’s less in the shape of her body – though it’s there too, trust me – than in the buck of her teeth, the way she holds her lip at gum level so you can see just how little dentistry she received growing up. I mean, they make Invisalign for a reason. She can still make it happen. Am I right?

It’s in the curve of her calves, the color of a sheet of paper just barely blushing. Maybe she’s a cow, not a sow. Bovine, porcine, does it really matter? She’s the kind of creature that I might see if I had a kid and if I took that kid up to Little Farm, but even if I had one of those creatures, I would rather take them anywhere else. I mean, really. Little Farm. If I wanted to feed celery and lettuce to indigents, I would never have to leave downtown Berkeley.



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