It may have nothing to do with the war, Covid, or inflation, but as if trying to
save fuel, summer has been frugal on heat. July 4th came and went without much
fanfare. The soaring silk trees have dismantled their furry pink clouds but the
crepe myrtles, also abundant, have arrived brandishing their bright white, pink,
or violet panicles. The pollarded plane tree, which in winter looked like a
monument to Hydra, has branches bursting out of each stumped head, forming a
giant verdant sphere and shading the whole front yard of a corner lot. The air
was cool, the sky blue, and it was another quiet month in Mountain View.
To Bill, it was all a charade, of course. He had a knack of looking at the dark
side of things. The police blotter in the local newspaper, for example, exerted
an inexplicable attraction. Recently, he learnt that the Stanford mall was
repeatedly looted and last week two thieves got away from the Lululemon store
with three dozens of leggings worth over $4600. Earlier this year, an Asian
woman told the manager of the Starbucks on San Antonio Road to "go back to your
country."
Bill had forgotten when he last patronized the mall. He frequented that coffee
shop, however, and could not help feeling self-concious after the story. He
decided he did not like the place so much after all: it was too popular, the AC
was too cold, and hobos abounded. One day, a man sitting in the next chair slept
the whole morning until first responders were called in. It was the following
dog poop incident, dubbed a "bio hazard" and which shut down business for four
hours, that finally tipped the balance and Bill moved his mornings to a smaller
mall.
At work, his manager sent an e-card and the team wished him happy on his
birthday. This never happened before and took him by surprise and for a moment,
he was lost for words. But the warm glow fizzled soon and it took one email from
another manager to shunt him back to his cynical self. It started with "Please
sensitize this with your team..." where the verb not only sounded pompous but
should not even take 'this' as an object. Over the past few months, he had
relearnt such impressive business lingo as 'prioritize,' 'expedite,' and
'functional impact,' but 'sensitize' topped them all.
To be honest, his life has never been better, but for it to have meaning, he has
to search for something to feel bad about. Perversely, in a land where people
are supposed to pursue happiness, Bill focuses on what sucks. He is rarely
disappointed.
It was a gorgeous early Sunday afternoon. After a couple of hours at the
library, he swung by Ava's Downtown Market, where he came for raw milk after the
Milk Pail, a nearby European-style grocery store, folded a few years back. Since
Covid, the north half of Castro street had been corded off and taken over by
restaurants lining on both sides. It was a busy place and all the signs seemed to
say businesses were thriving. It took a while for Bill to settle down under an
olive tree in the gentle breeze. He put his feet up, flipped a novel, and opened
a bottle of milk, delivered an hour ago, for lunch. For a short while, he had no
complaints.
