What is this about? The Dust Bunnies Jessica’s parakeet vanished a week after the vacuum cleaner broke, but her parents just could not see the connection. Mom and dad, sure that Sunny had either escaped out of her bedroom window (the one Jess was always being warned to keep closed), or had been killed and …
What is this about? Speed When James was a boy he was faster than a speeding jet. It’s true. Never lost a race. Not once. And there were plenty. He was nine at the time and lived in a mid-Wilshire area building whose apartments faced each other across a narrow courtyard that ran from the …
What is this about? Saturday Night Special, Part II (Part I is here) So left I went onto 7th almost laying down the bike before coming out of the turn when my eyes found the coyote, two blocks away standing almost casually in the middle of the street, panting out of the sides of its …
What is this about? La Cienega Toady remembered the first time he’d come down to the river’s edge. It was back when he was in fifth grade and he was with his first volunteer big brother — Greg, a law student at UCLA. Growing up westside one didn’t get many opportunities to see the L.A. …
What is this about? The Crossing Guard The old man with the bright orange crossing guard vest and the handheld stop sign shook his head as I Cali’d the four-way on my bike at the corner of Duquesne and Braddock south of the Culver City police station. It’s the same thing every day. I approach …
What is this about? Stall Had Greer’s exit from the bathroom stall at the back of the 10th floor restroom been one step further along he wouldn’t have been able to react to the surprise discovery of a machete-weilding assailant by stepping back and slamming the door shut to effectively prevent the rapidly descending machete …
What is this about? Metro Gnome He gunned the Harley up over the top of Topanga Canyon Boulevard and put the valley behind him. He loved going for long rides — especially canyons and along Mulholland and Angeles Crest Highway — just rocking back and forth like a big slow metronome into and through the …