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City of Angels--feedback please

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Kat222



Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 16
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio
City of Angels--feedback please

I stood looking out over Los Angeles watching the sun trying to set through the smog. This city must have been beautiful once, but not anymore. Now it was hot, and dirty. I’ve lost my job, my girlfriend, and wrecked my BMW all in one day. Watching the day draw to a close on the top of this building, I shove my hands in my pocket and ask my self for the hundredth time why the hell I ever moved here. City of Angels my ass!
Beautiful, isn’t it?”
Startled, I turn around. I see a man standing behind me smiling. He’s wearing a tie dyed t-shirt and blue bell bottom jeans. A large peace sign hung around his neck. I take in his clothes and unkempt hair and sigh inwardly. Great. A homeless flower child. “Look, I don’t have any money so…”
“I don’t want your money,” he said. “Like you, I’m here to check out the view.”
The man walks towards me, and looks out over the edge. “Beautiful isn’t it?” he says again.
“If you say so.”
He looks at me with flashing brown eyes. “Do you have a name, friend?”
“I’m Sarah,” I say reluctantly. The last thing I want is to have a conversation with a homeless guy who obviously never quit smoking pot. .
“I knew a Sarah once.” That’s it. That’s all he says. I look at him strangely but he is staring at the city below and doesn’t see it. “Look,” I say at last, “I don’t want to be rude but, if you don’t mind, I’d really like to be alone.”
The man pulls his gaze from the city and stares at me intently. “You are alone. That’s why you’re here isn’t it? You feel alone?”
My annoyance increases ten fold. “What are you, a shrink?”
“Not exactly.”
The man continues to stare at the city. The sun has dropped below the line of smog and the city is bathed in a temporary red glow. Time for another tactic. “You know, there’s a reason that style went out in the seventies,” I say with an air of contempt.
“I’m trying to bring it bring it back, but no one listens to me anymore.” He says this with such profound sadness that I nearly burst into tears. I haven’t cried since I was ten. The day my dad left.
The man moves closer to the edge. Looking down he exclaims, “Wow! I can see one of my houses from here.”
I join him at the building’s edge. The largest structure down there was a run down church building. Even at this distance I can see the condemned sign. “Did you say one of your houses? You must be an actor.” Maybe he was dressed that way to research a movie role.
He smiles at me again. “More like a director. But like I said, no one listens anymore.”
“The movie’s not going well I take it?”
“No. But there’s always hope.” The man sits on the edge and beckons me to join him.
“So why are you here on top of the world?” he asks as I join him. I wasn’t in the mood to discuss my problems with a total stranger, but there was something different about this man. Before I knew it I was telling him about Kelly, my job, everything.
“So you’re gay.” He said I as I finished.
“Yes,” I reply warily.
“Have you ever read the bible?”
“Yes.” Here we go, I thought. I brace myself for what I knew was the impending diatribe.
“Don’t believe everything you read.”
I’m starting to like this guy. We sit in silence for a while, watching the lights of the city come alive as the sun continues its downward journey. “So what about you,” I ask quietly when I can no longer stand the silence. “Do you have any one special?”
“There are many,” he replies. “But I really like John and Mary.”
‘Tell me about them.”
“John is the one I love, but Mary is a great woman. She has issues, but then again so do we all.”
“What happened to them?”
“Oh, they’re around here somewhere,” he replies, smiling again. “They like to hang with the people as I do.”
“Which people?”
“My people.”
I let it go. The sun had finally disappeared over the Pacific Ocean in the distance. It was time to leave. I stood up. “Well, it’s been real, but I’ve got some packing to do.”
“Do you still want to jump?” he asks, looking up at me.
“I never said I wanted to jump,” I said, becoming annoyed again.
“No, but you were thinking about it.”
He was right, of course. At some level I had been thinking about taking a dive. I look out over the city again. The smog had disappeared with the sun, the heat of the day slowly dissipating. I know it would all be back tomorrow. But, for now, the city shines brightly. “Maybe not”
I start to walk away but turn back. “I never caught your name.”
The man looks at me with his warm, kind smile. “My friends call me Chris.”
“Huh. I knew a Chris once. He left.”
“He never left, Daniel. And he never will.” And just like that he is gone.

Post Fri Apr 27, 2007 3:45 am 
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Alegria



Joined: 08 Aug 2006
Posts: 46


Very nice. Makes you think near the end. So, is the guy her father?
_________________
The truth is rarely pure and never simple. Modern life would be very tedious if it were either, and modern literature a complete impossibility!

Post Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:36 pm 
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Kat222



Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 16
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio


thanks. the guy is Jesus Christ.

Post Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:40 pm 
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Kat222



Joined: 24 Apr 2007
Posts: 16
Location: Cincinnati, Ohio


thanks. the guy is Jesus Christ.

Post Fri Apr 27, 2007 2:40 pm 
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Amberrypie



Joined: 04 Feb 2008
Posts: 11


I enjoyed reading this. Thank you for sharing it Smile I can relate to Sarah as some situations led me to thinking of "taking a dive." I believe the Lord works in those kinds of ways.

Post Tue Feb 05, 2008 3:16 pm 
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