Fragment Of An Afternoon (in El Granada in 1975)

David S. from Pescadero arrived at my house in an old, slow blue-gray car.

He has a redwood slab he wants to sell; it would make a great kitchen counter top, he tells me.

My husband John isn’t home so David says he’ll go down the street to see his friend who lives in the pink house on the corner.

I tell David that when John comes home I’ll send him down there.

Soon afterwards John comes home and together we walk to the pink house. David comes down the stairs and shows us the redwood slab. It’s beautiful.

David says he needs money—he’s moving from Pescadero to Colorado—more trees than in Pescadero, he tells us.

We give him $5—but he wants $20 for the slab– which is really a good price—David says if John were working for him, he’d sell it for $15. He needs $20.

David’s wearing “his old lady’sâ€? pants because he says his own clothes are dirty and he’s late for dinner at the Carter sister’s home in Half Moon Bay….

We take the slab…we tell David we know someone who will pay $20….