Erika's Annex Page 435 -An Unfortunate Occurrence in the City by the Bay

So there moi was with Mika, enjoying a late night repast. Moi had come to San Francisco for the weekend and Mika had kindly agreed to show moi around and, more importantly for the arc of this little vignette to chauffeur moi around. So where was moi? Ah yes, Mika and moi had just finished our meal. Where was the meal, you inquire?

Oh just a little Thai greasy spoon. Thai House Express: This bright and perky restaurant on the edge of the Tenderloin offers a more casual and less expensive menu than its two sister restaurants, Thai House and Thai House Cafe, both in the Castro. What makes this place unique are the regional dishes seldom seen in other Thai restaurants, such as kao soy, a northern curry noodle dish, and sai oou, a northeastern spicy sausage appetizer. Most people order the rice plates such as kao ka moo (sweet slow-braised pork leg over rice) or kao mun gai (poached chicken with soy-ginger sauce over oil-cooked rice). The food is regarded by many Thais as the most authentic street food in the Bay Area. (-SF Chronicle) 901 Larkin St

Anyway, as moi was saying, the pad thai consumed, Mika and moi posed happily for photographs, unaware of the disaster about to unfold after we left this haven of Asian cooking. How happy we look (well, moi does anyway; perhaps Mika was having amoment of foreboding)

We returned to Mika's car. EEEEK!! Some blind and deaf person had sideswiped the auto on his/her way to making a right hand turn, almost severing the front bumper from the main chassis. There was nothing for it but to remove the front bumper completely and stow it in the rear seat. But how would a couple of tgurls, dressed to the nines be able to effect this tricky maneuver? This is when it turns weird.

About this time, a homeless guy came riding to the rescue like knight in shabby armor. Handing me a plastic wrapped two pound pack of bacon, with a brusque "Here, hold this, girly" (Moi told you it got weird) he proceeded to effect the separation of the bumper from the car and to supervise the installation of said bumper in the rear seating compartment of the auto. Obviously, Mika gave him a monetary consideration for his time and effort and things appeared to be proceeding as normal in such a situation when he insisted that we keep the bacon. Now moi has given some money to homeless peops before, but this was the first time that one tried to give moi something too.

Not the actual bacon, but a representation of such, for illustrative purposes only

Moi is not sure that there is any particular point to this story other than to indicate that life can be strange. It did, however, serve to make the subsequent events of the evening have a particular resonance.

So chew on that bacon fat as you stumble, dazed, back to the Photopage List