Random Untold Stories…

@jesusredeemedme2425

Finally getting around to this:

It was the late 1990's. I was a university student in San Francisco, but on that day our class wasn't meeting in its uselessly academic department on campus. We were to meet at the Cliff House for a class project (I don't recall exactly what we did out there, but it involved going to the base of the cliff itself & the Sutro bath ruins). I biked to the Cliff House, got there early--I probably lived closer to that place than anyone else in my class--& waited for everyone else to show.

While I was slouched on the park bench outside, a guy walked up to me. He had ratty old jeans on, a worn leather vest, no shirt, wraparound shades & the shortest unnaturally blonde buzz cut I'd ever seen in my life at that point while still not being bald. He asked me how I was; I said I was doing okay...it was a nice day to be outside...sunny, warm with a slight breeze off the ocean. It was the usual convo until he said "I lost my wallet when I was swimming in the ocean, man." Of course. This is SF, after all...one of the two homeless meccas of the west coast.

I looked at him & said that I was sorry but that I couldn't help him..."this is all I got", "this" meaning me, my backpack & my bike. (I didn't have any cash) He said

"Are you alright, man?"

I smiled & said "sure, I'm alright. It's just that, you know, I don't have any money."

He turned to walk away & I figured I was rid of this character, but out of the corner of my eye I saw him walk to his van (old & beat-up, like his clothes), open the side door & climb inside. I was feeling pretty relaxed, so my head was down when I saw his shoes as he approached again...immediately I thought oh great. what the *** do you want now? The man said

"Hold out your hand."

I did...& a tiny stream of powdery fragments of plant matter dribbled into my upturned hand.

I dunno what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't that.

For a few seconds I was too surprised to talk, or move. I saw his feet move as the man walked back to his van...I heard him say "it's just shake but it's good stuff." I retracted my still-open hand...

Finally I recovered from my surprise--it could've been five seconds, maybe a smidgen more--looked around...& spotted an SFPD police cruiser parked a few spaces up from where I was sitting.

Seriously.

Don't know what the exact distance was...perhaps 25 feet. I didn't measure it exactly because I was too busy nearly having a godd**n heart attack. Here I am sitting on a park bench on a sidewalk by the Cliff House, some street weirdo gave me some pot right out in the open, & there are law enforcement officers somewhere in the vicinity. As rattled as I was, however, I wasn't one to turn down a gift. Specially if it's herb that smelled fairly good. I jammed my right hand into my pocket as fast & carefully as I could--this was loose weed, remember--unzipped my pack with my left hand & started rooting around in it like a raccoon in a dumpster. I found something to put the weed in (I think it was a sandwich bag), dumped it in, closed up the bag & shoved it inside my backpack--& waiting for a cop to approach me & ask about my clearly suspicious behavior. I zipped up my backpack, put it beside me & sat very still...waiting.

About two minutes later, I heard the street dude slam the side door shut. A few minutes after that he climbed into the front of his van, started it up, backed out & drove away.

No uniformed officer approached. Thank heavens.

About half an hour later, the professor & the rest of my class showed up. I said nothing about the previous events to them. Until now, the only person I ever told about this was my dad a few days afterward.

P.S. Some time later, I put some of the stuff into a pipe I had & fired it up. It did what it was supposed to.