L.A. Fragmented
L.A. Fragmented
I walk out of my Airbnb and down the hill past the couple living in their mini-van on my way to Down Town L.A. No particular goal in mind, maybe a protein shake if I see it. I pass a Hispanic man, mid-twenties, no shirt, standing moving only his upper body in some kind of exorcist-tourettes crossover.
I pass a big poster taped onto a fence that is protecting what looks like a long since abandoned construction site. The poster reads in large rainbow text “GAY RIGHT’S are even MORE important than HUMAN RIGHTS!!” with an almost naked Chinese homosexual, body painted in mime colors (face included), giving a thumbs up and a smile, next to the text.
The Hispanic couple walking in front of me cross the street when they see the forties something looking white guy, rail-thin, no shirt, with his ass crack hanging out scratching himself questionably, laying on his stomach in the middle of the sidewalk, but I don’t see a reason to break my stride and walk right past him. I pass by Chase Bank and consider taking money out of the ATM, but I already have enough cash for prostitutes tonight so I keep walking. I see a black man squatting across the street, he stands up and pulls his pants up smiling, and walks away. I don’t cross to confirm the shit.
I pass Starbucks. I pass Wells Fargo. I pass a sex shop with a rainbow flag in the window, just like the Wells Fargo. I wait for the light to change before I cross the street, the poster stapled onto the telephone pole says “Minor Attracted People’s Fight for Inclusion! Meetings every Sunday at the former Orthodox Catholic Church on Broadway!” Rainbow flag at the bottom. Walk signal turns on, insane asylum cackles come from some hidden crackhead as I pass another Starbucks or maybe a Wells Fargo, rainbow flag. I look to my left watching a young black woman make her way through a hole in a fence into a mostly empty lot with a few tents in it across the street. She turns towards me once she gets inside the fence, and looks completely normal besides the ten-inch crack pipe sticking out of her mouth.
After passing a Chipotle and a Bank of America with a sign in the window that says “The Fight for Equality Never Stops!!” in rainbow text with a rainbow fist next to it, I decide to turn down a back-alley street. There’s an abandoned city bus partially spray-painted with graffiti, turned into a mini heroin or meth den, probably meth, heroin is more of an East Coast thing. Old advertisement on the side of the bus “Get Your HIV-PREP Free Today!! Paid for by the City of Los Angeles!” smiling effeminate man in his briefs standing next to the text, with a mustache spray-painted on his face. Another ad on the second half of the bus- “‘The Sex Lives of High School Girls!!’ A Netflix Original, that gives a whole new meaning to ‘Getting a Head-Start on College’!” Another poster for the “Minor Attracted People Inclusion support-group” meeting at the former Orthodox Catholic Church on Broadway taped to the back of the bus, along with a rainbow flag and a spray-painted anarchy symbol. A cracked-out white guy at the end of the alley, age indeterminable, is flexing at a blue recycling trash-bin shirtless, facing the brick wall screaming “WE AINT ASS FUCKING THEM OUT HERE FOR FREE! NUH, IT AINT FREE OUT HERE BOUY”.
I exit that alleyway and see a large billboard with a picture of a lit joint on it and the text- “DON’T WORRY. BE HAPPY.” small Medmen™ logo at the bottom right. I see another Chase bank and decide to take out another thousand from the ATM for prostitutes later just to be safe. I see a smoothie shop and go in and order a vanilla protein shake. After the manlet cashier makes it I ask him if it’s whey protein, he says they only have soy, annoyed and disappointed I asked if he could at least add creatine to that. He tells me he doesn’t know what that is. I throw the shake at his face and leave without paying, screaming “WE’RE NOT ASS-FUCKING THEM OUT HERE FOR FREE” as I stride out the door.
