Chapter 1: I, Dogman

From http://www.sfgate.com/entertainment/article/San-Francisco-s-famous-fog-3226232.php

     "Hello down there" I call upon spying a piece of fabric on a ledge down the steep slope into San Francisco Bay.

I'm making dawn rounds at Marin Headlands and know that no one has registered to camp at our one primitive site. Scrambling down, I hear the rush of waves onto the rocky coast below though the water is obscured by billowing pillows of morning fog.

"It's a beautiful morning" I call to the young woman sitting in the tent site, her linen dress splayed over crossed legs.

"Don't sing that Rascals song to me" she glares, hazel eyes catching a glint of the sunrise even as they glisten with tears. "Not after what happened at the Ambassador last night."

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     It's the first week of my first job since graduating from San Francisco State a month ago. I'd lucked into this position on the back of a strong recommendation from a biology professor I'd been a lab assistant for. Dr. Grand was so impressed with my scavenging of field specimens for his Bio 101 practical exam that he offered me a summer research position. Too bad his grant fell through when Congress demanded a spending cut before approving President Johnson's tax hike to fund the escalating war in Vietnam. So the good professor instead spoke to a buddy at Golden Gate Park, and here I am stationed at the Headlands, a park ranger with a B.S. in biology making a dollar sixty an hour to chase hippies off the beaches at dusk. Apparently this one had got away.

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     "Look Miss" I reasoned while trying to ignore her tears, her golden hair and eyes, her insinuation that something bad happened. "There's a $10 fee for camping down here."  

"I'm Karma" she sniffled, "and my last cash went to the cabby who just brought me here."

"Well come on over to the Visitor Center later and we'll get you registered for this site" I softened.

"Thanks Mister Ranger" she smiled. "Bobby was shot last night."

"Ranger Dave Dolman at your service" I corrected her, cringing at my own formality. "Is Bobby your boyfriend?"

"He's our last hope to beat Tricky Dick" she moaned.

"What, another Kennedy down?"

"We don't know how bad yet so I'm chanting to Yemaya for his recovery."

"I'm with you there, though I don't think Nixon's so bad."

"You need to come to the Haight."

"I will if you'll come down to sign in. I'll even throw in some breakfast from the commissary."

"It's a deal, Dogman" she concludes, flashing a grateful smile along with a two-fingered peace sign before settling back into the lotus position to resume her chant.