The Perfect Couple

28

Saturday it seemed funny to be collecting cans again. After the miracle of Friday afternoon at The Straw it seemed to me as if the whole world had changed. I should be wearing a pair of glass slippers instead of grungy old sneakers. Still, I needed money more than ever and besides, I couldn't very well let Marcus down when he'd been responsible for the miracle.

"Want to try the beach today?" he asked.

The peninsula is divided by a low range of mountains. The Pacific Ocean is on one side and the other is San Francisco Bay.

I knew Marcus was referring to the beach on the bay side, which was only a short distance away and easy biking.

"Sure," I said.

The pickings were pretty good or pretty bad from a trash pollution viewpoint so we filled our bags shortly before noon. We'd brought lunch, not knowing we'd be so lucky, so we decided to have a picnic.

"Let's sit here," Marcus said, thumping a piece of driftwood to be sure it was solid enough to use as a back rest. The sand was a little bit damp but we sat down and unwrapped our sandwiches.

"What kind have you got?" Marcus asked.
"Cheese."
"You always have cheese."
"What kind have you got?"
"Ham"
"You always have ham."
"Want to go halves?" he asked.
"Sure."

It wasn't exciting to be with Marcus but it sure was relaxing. With Alan I got chills and fever. Marcus was like a warm blanket. We didn't say anything while we ate . . . just watched the sea gulls wheeling in a sky that was as blue as a robin's egg except for some little white clouds that drifted overhead now and then.

"That one looks like a camel," I said after awhile.

"Yeah." Marcus didn't have to ask what I was talking about. We'd always seen animal shapes in the clouds.

We finished the milk I'd brought in a thermos. Marcus got a white moustache. When I told him about it, he wiped it away with the back of his hand.

"Tom's a nice guy," he said. "He's really into music, isn't he?"

I nodded, then thinking of the day before, I put my hand on his arm.
"You were great at The Straw," I said, "getting Alan to sit in our booth, then bringing up the subject of football so I could show him what a fan I am. I really think he's interested in me now. So maybe pretty soon we can start to cool our big romance." I laughed, but Marcus didn't join in.

"What are friends for?" My hand fell away from his arm as he stood up abruptly. "Let's hit the road," he said.

As we started home, the clouds got darker. "You think it's going to rain?" I asked.

"Probably. It's November now . . . So I guess we won't be collecting cans many more times this year." He turned his head to look at me. "It was kind of fun, wasn't it?" He sounded sad that it was almost over.

"Yeah," I said. I felt the same way.