Member-only story
San Francisco is a City of Love in the Time of COVID
Small gestures can have extraordinary consequences
It is about twenty past one antemeridian.
I sit on SunBench West, about two blocks down McAllister from the original SunBench, at the corner of Lyon.
I’m taking the night air as is my wont during a global pandemic.
The original SunBench is where I catch some rays, as Sol shines on it all day.
Smiles Are Rare
A man leaves the flat to my right and walks to the curb. I assume he awaits an Uber or a Lyft.
A car pulls up, and he speaks to the driver. I figure he is showing his vax card as he wears no mask.
I wear AirPods, though, so I switch to the transparency setting, like auditory steroids.
It allows you to hear sounds even at a distance.
He is showing his ID. I am familiar with this transaction because I have bought alcohol in San Francisco this way for the past year.
We trade smiles as he takes his bags in, and suddenly he says, “And what about you? Can I offer you some weed?”
