It was
in San Francisco…
a magnet
for earthquakes…
the year
was circa 1936…
my old man
arrived home
a little after 4:00 am…
he was a sax
player in a jazz band…
this was his
typical hour to
to make it home
from his nightly gig…
he no sooner
started to pull off
his shoes when a
violent rumbling
shook the room
around him…
as things fell
to the floor
he woke my mom
and they quickly
made their way
down a swaying
stairwell…
three floors
and out to the
city street…
the evening
was chilly…
the streetlights
flickered..
neighbors had fled
their beds and
apartments
and were
clustering
up and down the
center of the street…
the first quake
had now stopped…
but there were
aftershocks that
pulsed…
my dad looked up
to see a man
standing nearby…
in his fright
to escape the
danger of being
trapped inside by
falling debris
he stood there naked…
‘Hey,’ he yelled
at the shivering man…
‘go put something on
are you crazy…
you’ll freeze your
ass off out here like that!’
my mom
and several others
stood chuckling
at the man…
he looked at himself
and then at the
building…
his eyes wide
with fright…
my dad yelled again,
‘go on!..go put
something on!’
the man
bolted off like
a scared rabbit…
disappearing into
the rattling building…
a few minutes later
and they all looked
up to see the man
had returned…
he was again
standing in the street
staring at the building…
out of breath…
one hand covering
his crotch…
the other firmly
holding his straw hat
to his head…
‘yeah, that’ll do the trick,’
my dad yelled at him…
the fellow
turned and grinned
a silly frightened grin…
the rest of the folks
in the street
all burst into howls
of laughter…
R. C. Arquette 11/3/07
No comments:
Post a Comment