pre-acton/ I meet Melba

Pre-Acton

Melba saved my ass at a bus stop on Sunset Blvd. I’d been drinking my way through West Hollywood until the bars closed. I was wearing a stretch denim suit and a dark grey pinstripe overcoat and probably looked okay propped up against the glass enclosure but it had been a rough hike up from Santa Monica. I had to have covered more ground side to side than forward. I was raggedy inside.

I’d forgotten that Sunset buses heading west stopped running early, like at midnight. There was no traffic, nothing. I could walk back down to Wilshire or Santa Monica where maybe the buses were still running but I didn’t. Maybe I was waiting for a rogue cab. That would’ve been for naught anyway, I didn’t know it yet but I’d been ripped off by a Hispanic TG at a bar called Rage. I had no money.

I’d been standing there awhile when a primer grey serial killer looking sedan rolled slowly past. The windows were dark. I watched as it did a u-turn and pulled up in front of me. It was a nice night, December, blurry stars hung in the sky. I recognized it’s potential but felt no fear. A large light-skinned black woman leaned over smiling, and asked if I needed a ride as she opened the passenger-side door. I don’t know what I was thinking as I climbed in, I was curious.