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"Hey there stranger" calls Dogman down into the looming darkness of my campsite. "Where've you been all day?"
"It's not easy to get from the Headlands to Oakland" I call back. "I walked the Golden Gate in the chilly morning fog, but catching a ride over the Bay Bridge took forever."
"I would've taken you" he blurts, setting down a long canvas bag and a lantern that enclosed us in a circle of light. "Why Oakland?"
"Why not?" is all I could initially offer into the growing chirrup of crickets.
___________
"What a sight for sore eyes" exclaimed my high school friend from his bed at Oak Lawn Naval Hospital as I leaned over to give him a hug. "How'd you find me here?"
"Blaine, I talked to Mickie" I explained referring to our girlfriend back in New Jersey. "She's scared shitless about you. Why don't you call?"
"Just getting my head back" he stammered shaking his head from side to side as I snuggled up next to him.
"Why are you here?" I asked, doing my best to not scrunch up my nose to the stench of sweat and pee.
"Good question after the hell hole over there."
"No, I mean what brought you to the hospital."
"It was a C-130 I believe."
"Asshole. Now tell me what happened" I demanded, trying to ignore the stares from surrounding cots.
"Lost my legs again. They say it happened after a guy's rifle stock hit behind my ear."
"You don't remember?"
"Last I knew we were heading toward a little Vietcong village when me met up with Americal Division. This crazy lieutenant was yelling at us to move out and do as we were told."
"What do the doctor's say?"
"Something about Lou Gehrig."
"The chubby little guy from Abbot and Costello?"
"Nah, some old baseball player with a brain problem that made him quit early. How're things here?"
"The summer of love is definitely done. Bobby Kennedy was killed last week and religious fanatics have invaded the Haight."
"That's two strikes against San Francisco."
"One more and you're out" winced a guy from the bed next to us, his casted leg hanging from a ceiling hook.
"Are you going to stay?" Blaine asked.
"Yeah, at least blacks are organizing to stand up to the man."
"Right on" grinned an African American man holding up a fist from two beds over.
"We're about follow their lead on Vietnam" I continue.
"I just need to get out of this hell hole" Blaine groans.
"I can help with that" I grinned, putting his arms around my shoulders and standing back so he was seated on the side of the bed.
"Not yet sweetie, I need to get some strength back."
__________
"That's a hard road to hoe for a joy ride" Dogman laughs nervously as a big black bird swoops along the bluff.
"Okay, I'll tell you" I begin, relieved to not be hiding something. "I saw a guy I knew from high school at the naval hospital."
"Aren't you still in high school?"
"I would be if I went back" I reply, pulling out my little pipe and baggie and loading the bowl.
"Cut the shit Karma, you're screwing up your life out here."
"There are bigger things than my little life in Bound Brook, New Jersey" I sigh with a stream of smoke, offering him the bowl.
"Not when you're sleeping on the ground and eating grass" he huffs, grabbing the tent and stomping off up the rocky cliff.
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