A Wrong Turn

Today was chemo day. I should have known something was wrong when I didn't get my usual reminder call of the appointment. Once there, they said they had no record of my appointment. The best they could do was work me in three or four hours later in the day. It was such a long drive from my home that I didn't want to reschedule.

Although it wasn't the way I wanted to spend my day off, it was the perfect opportunity to Christmas shop. The vet's office kept Kelsey and gave me directions to the nearest shopping centers. Of course I went the wrong direction.

It was a long drive and the area kept getting rougher looking. It was also odd that so many people were on the sidewalks. You don't see that in the nicer areas of town. But the people weren't walking, they were just milling around. These also weren't women and children, but scary looking men. This was not a place for ladies. The street names sounded vaguely familiar, even though I was sure I had never been here before. Then it hit me. This was where the riot started.

LA is big and the areas I live, work and play in are nice. Other areas are dangerous and not a good place for anyone. Those are the areas that give LA a bad name and high homicide statistics. I had to get away from there and fast.

The streets were old and didn't have left turn lanes. I couldn't make a U turn without stopping traffic in my lane and didn't want to do anything to piss anyone off. People have been shot
for less. Instead, I made a right and went around the block.

The tidy homes were all Craftsmen style and showed pride in ownership, but every single window of every single home had bars on the windows. The people who live there must be scared. That is no way to live. There are no bars where I live, at least not on windows.

I escaped from the bad area without incident. Soon the streets had street trees again. The bars on windows disappeared. Sony Pictures was having catering by Wolfgang Puck. All was well with the world.

I found stores and went to work. I now have a red party dress, a new bed side dresser and a beaded black halter top. Oh and my Christmas shopping is pretty much done. Mission accomplished.

Kelsey is fine too. He's doing well with the chemo.