Cruiser Lady

Some of my favorite encounters happen at 7-11. You’ve met my friend the freezie queen and today I ran across a woman who might be her relation. Sure I’m in San Clemente for a few days which is over 1,000 miles from the freezie queen’s home in Portland but still, I think they may share a parent. The Clemente cruiser, I’ll call her, and she pulled up outside 7-11 just as I was starting my car. Riding a beach cruiser bike, rusted and squeaking she wore her hair in long delicate ringlets held back with a plastic tortiose shell banana clip. Her skin was tan and leathery making a stark contrast between the silk flowery top she wore. “Oh the life down here,” I thought. “Sun, sand, and everyone is riding around on bikes feeling relaxed and mellow. This lady might be homeless but still, her life seemed pretty good.”

As she approached the front of the store she did this fantastic dismount hopping off the the back of the bike just in time for it to come to rest gently against one of those steel parking barriers. And then she threw her hands in the air and whooped like an olympic champion. Her triumph was short lived though, lasting only a few seconds before the bike fell to the ground. Cruiser lady did a 180 going from cheering to swearing in about 1/2 a second. She let out a stream of language reserved for sailors and construction sites then picked her bike up and slammed it against the yellow post over and over. Not so mellow, I guessed.