Ruby Khan
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Ruby Khan - Michael Simmons
Twelve
CHAPTER ONE
The day appeared as normal as any other. People were mindful of people around them. Those people walking down the street talking to their self were either afforded special attention or forcefully ignored. Everyone within fifteen feet could clearly hear some of those intimate conversations. Most of those people appeared to be homeless and with mental health issues. Some of those people are very scary and some are scarier than others. All are treated with benign neglect. Few demand special attention, the most animated, specifically a guy crossing the street at 14th and Broadway shouting at the top of his lungs and in an apparent rage. Every word was clear and between all the expletives he made an extremely profound statement. They found out they couldn’t keep me in the HOLE forever, they had to let me out! Now they want to sentence me to LIFE ON THE STREETS!!!
His tirade enveloped extreme personal pain. What is it that happens in a persons’ life that drives them to that point? His words bounced off the buildings giving off an echo that possessed a tinny, eerie quality.
At that time of the afternoon, mid-week, downtown looked like it was in the last stages of evacuation. More empty storefronts occupy the buildings than viable businesses. If you stared down the street long enough you would imagine you saw tumbleweed blowing along.
Its’ early winter in ‘The Town’. Oakland California has seen better days.
The city of Oakland is and always has been a very beautiful place. Oakland has plenty of greenery, plants, trees and water. San Francisco sits across the bay and is referred to as ‘The City’. Oakland is referred to as ‘The Town’. The city of Berkeley, ‘B-Town’, is right across the street from Oakland as is Emeryville, Montclair, Piedmont, San Leandro, and San Lorenzo. The San Francisco Bay and the estuary border parts of Oakland. Yes, the town has a shoreline. Also there is a lovely man-made lake, Lake Merritt, in the downtown area. Plus there are many nice parks and trails for biking, hiking, jogging and walking. Oakland has flatlands and hills. Just to mention a few of its assets there are museums, libraries, refurbished art deco theaters, the Rose Garden, an observatory, colleges and a zoo within city limits. When the Bay Area Rapid Transit project started, downtown Oakland underwent change and major redevelopment.
Old Oakland and Preservation Park are products of that redevelopment. Architecture of many of the downtown buildings is in a class of its own. Art Deco and Victorian structures exist throughout the town. There are professional sports teams, the Oakland Raiders, the Golden State Warriors and the Oakland Athletics. Access into the town is easy and an exit from the town is just as easy. Amtrak, Bart, the county bus service, ferry service, Greyhound Bus Line, the Oakland International Airport and an inter-state and state highway system all serve Oakland. There are many areas in the hills that offer a panoramic view of the bay area. The climate of the bay area is exceptional. The town has a diverse population and is rich in culture and history. Oakland CA, the town, is a truly magnificent place with an abundance of beauty. It’s just that it has lost and continues to lose some of its luster.
CHAPTER TWO
A young male in his early twenties, abusive toward females, a bully, homophobic, unemployed and with a blatant disrespect for authority, is riding his bicycle in downtown. His name is Derik. He’s another young male that thinks he has life all figured out. One of many in his generation that believe making up answers is better than finding the answer, or admitting to not knowing the answer. He is going through life with entitlement issues regardless of having done little to have earned anything. This segment of that generation is resistant to following societal rules, rules they view as irrelevant, so they make up their own rules as they go. They seem to be very angry and violent.
Something went wrong early in their lives, something that hasn’t been fixed. Whatever is going on with them is creating a wedge between them and the community. They fail to recognize that they have allies and people willing to help improve their condition. They fail to acknowledge there are people that love and care about them, that they are somebody’s loved one. And they fail to realize they are eliminating, wiping out and killing off their own generation. He also was too young to remember most details of the earthquake of ’89 or the conflagration of ’91.
Derik and his friends know Oakland, The Town, as broke land, the nickel and dime. The nickel and dime is their economic policy. Their area code says it all, 5-1-0, 5-10, the nickel and dime.
Earlier that day Derik had been dumped by his girlfriend of two months. They first met one night at one of the bay areas’