here.
I went a little closer to the bad part, passing a church with a sign out front in Korean, and was surprised to see people sitting on their stoops drinking beers, kids yelling at one another in fence-hidden backyards, people washing their cars. Must be a Saturday or Sunday, and the weather was indeed springtime-fine, the air smelling of honeysuckle, but I'd expected a street withbars on the windows, people looking out through their curtains, the whole city-under-siege bit. This place pulsed with nastiness, the way an infected wound will radiate heat, and I knew other people couldn't feel the craziness the way I could, but shouldn't there have been some external sign? I wasn't sensing some hidden moral failings here - this was a place where violence had been done.
I looked for a likely house, and picked a small adobe place near a corner, where an elderly Chinese woman stood watering her plants. I greeted her in Cantonese, which delighted her, and it turned out she was from around here, so it only took a few minutes to work something out. She took me inside, showed me the tiny guest room, and gave me a spare key, zipping around the house in a sprightly way, since I'd gotten rid of her rheumatism and arthritis in exchange for bed and board. "We'll just tell everyone you're my nephew," she said. "By marriage. Ha ha ha!" I laughed right along with her, kissed her cheek - she was good people - and went out onto the street.
I strolled down the sidewalk, smiling and nodding at everyone I met. The street was long and curving, cut off at either end by a couple of larger cross streets. There were some apartment houses near one end, with younger people, maybe grad students or starving artists, and some nice bigger houses where families lived. The residents were pure Oakland variety - Koreans, Chinese, whites, blacks, Latinos of various origins. Even the cars on the sidewalks were diverse, with motorcycles, beaters held together with primer and care, SUVs, even a couple of sports cars. I liked it. It felt neighbourly. But it also felt wrong, and I couldn't pinpoint the badness. It was all around me. I was in it, too close to narrow it down further.
A pretty woman, probably half-Japanese, half-black - I'm good at guessing ethnicities and extractions, and the look is a unique one -sat on the steps of a three-storey apartment house with decorative castle crenulations on the roof, sipping an orange cream soda from a bottle and reading a slim book. There was something about her - ah, right, I got it. I was in a body again, and she was beautiful, and I was attracted.
"Afternoon," I said, walking up to the steps and nodding a greeting. "You know Miss Li?"
"Down on the corner?" she said. "Sure."
"I'm her nephew. I'll be staying with her for a while, maybe a few weeks, while I get settled."
"Nephew, huh?" She looked up at me speculatively. "By marriage, I'm guessing."
"You guessed right," I said, and extended my hand.
"I'm Sadie." She shook my hand. "Welcome to the neighbourhood." There was no jolt of electricity, but she wasn't giving me go-away vibes, either, so I gave it a try.
"Are you from around here?"
"Me? No. I'm from Chicago, born and raised. Just came out here for school."
I grinned wider. I couldn't have a dalliance with someone from around here - it would be too easy to steer them, compel them, without even intending to, too easy to chat with their deep down parts by accident. But she had a different home, so we could talk, like people. I was a person now, for the moment, more or less. "I could use someone to show me around the neighbourhood, help get me oriented."
She shrugged. "What do you want to know?"
I sat down, not too close. "Oh, I don't know." How about "Why aren't you terrified? Don't you sense the presence of somethingmonstrous in this place?" "Who's that guy?" I
I went a little closer to the bad part, passing a church with a sign out front in Korean, and was surprised to see people sitting on their stoops drinking beers, kids yelling at one another in fence-hidden backyards, people washing their cars. Must be a Saturday or Sunday, and the weather was indeed springtime-fine, the air smelling of honeysuckle, but I'd expected a street withbars on the windows, people looking out through their curtains, the whole city-under-siege bit. This place pulsed with nastiness, the way an infected wound will radiate heat, and I knew other people couldn't feel the craziness the way I could, but shouldn't there have been some external sign? I wasn't sensing some hidden moral failings here - this was a place where violence had been done.
I looked for a likely house, and picked a small adobe place near a corner, where an elderly Chinese woman stood watering her plants. I greeted her in Cantonese, which delighted her, and it turned out she was from around here, so it only took a few minutes to work something out. She took me inside, showed me the tiny guest room, and gave me a spare key, zipping around the house in a sprightly way, since I'd gotten rid of her rheumatism and arthritis in exchange for bed and board. "We'll just tell everyone you're my nephew," she said. "By marriage. Ha ha ha!" I laughed right along with her, kissed her cheek - she was good people - and went out onto the street.
I strolled down the sidewalk, smiling and nodding at everyone I met. The street was long and curving, cut off at either end by a couple of larger cross streets. There were some apartment houses near one end, with younger people, maybe grad students or starving artists, and some nice bigger houses where families lived. The residents were pure Oakland variety - Koreans, Chinese, whites, blacks, Latinos of various origins. Even the cars on the sidewalks were diverse, with motorcycles, beaters held together with primer and care, SUVs, even a couple of sports cars. I liked it. It felt neighbourly. But it also felt wrong, and I couldn't pinpoint the badness. It was all around me. I was in it, too close to narrow it down further.
A pretty woman, probably half-Japanese, half-black - I'm good at guessing ethnicities and extractions, and the look is a unique one -sat on the steps of a three-storey apartment house with decorative castle crenulations on the roof, sipping an orange cream soda from a bottle and reading a slim book. There was something about her - ah, right, I got it. I was in a body again, and she was beautiful, and I was attracted.
"Afternoon," I said, walking up to the steps and nodding a greeting. "You know Miss Li?"
"Down on the corner?" she said. "Sure."
"I'm her nephew. I'll be staying with her for a while, maybe a few weeks, while I get settled."
"Nephew, huh?" She looked up at me speculatively. "By marriage, I'm guessing."
"You guessed right," I said, and extended my hand.
"I'm Sadie." She shook my hand. "Welcome to the neighbourhood." There was no jolt of electricity, but she wasn't giving me go-away vibes, either, so I gave it a try.
"Are you from around here?"
"Me? No. I'm from Chicago, born and raised. Just came out here for school."
I grinned wider. I couldn't have a dalliance with someone from around here - it would be too easy to steer them, compel them, without even intending to, too easy to chat with their deep down parts by accident. But she had a different home, so we could talk, like people. I was a person now, for the moment, more or less. "I could use someone to show me around the neighbourhood, help get me oriented."
She shrugged. "What do you want to know?"
I sat down, not too close. "Oh, I don't know." How about "Why aren't you terrified? Don't you sense the presence of somethingmonstrous in this place?" "Who's that guy?" I
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