Riley was angry. Not visibly. But it wasn’t hard to ‘see’.
He had been fighting the fires as they encroached on his house with his father. He could see the fire down the street, but right then he felt …
“We quit taking credit cards because of the fees.”
“Couldn’t you have passed the fees back to customers that wanted to use credit?”
“That would have been too complicated.”
“And now you are closing …
“I was born in Tijuana. I grew up In San Diego. I moved to San Jose and then San Francisco. Now I’m in Oregon. I guess I’ll get to Canada eventually.”
“Always a …
Cynthia was brought up about 50 miles away, moved here in her teens, and ‘worked the tables’ for longer than she meant to. On ‘the way through’ she fell into a job that she had for 38 …
The conversation started simply enough. He lived just up the road, had a little farm … “just as a hobby you know”.
Yes, he’s been in farming the whole of his life, always in …
“I trained as a Psychologist.”
“I became a Winemaker.”
“I run a Bar.”
“It’s all the same really.”
“I’m descended from a Scotsman who married a Dakotan Indian. That’s how I came to be in the Crystal business.”
James never explained how that particular logic worked. I think …
“My dad is half Japanese and half Latvian, my mom is French, they met, married and I was born in Alabama.”
That’s a story right there … it emerged as I complimented her on her tattoos.
“This one,” …
“I was born in Palm Springs” he said.
He had my attention. I know a few people who have lived in Palm Springs. James was the first time I knew of someone born there.
“Then I moved to …
There are a series of posts that I am publishing at People First that are my simple, beginners attempt to capture stories about people I meet.
I announced them here.
They are catalogued under ‘Travels Without Charley’ here if you are interested.