Sunset with Someone

Today I was complaining via email to my friend Tim in T0r0nt0 that it was a beautiful, bright and warm sunny day and I wanted to go to the beach but had no one to go with. But life goes on so I planned to head to the Deli and pick up some of their yummy salads (noodles with an Asian peanut sauce, broccoli with chopped walnuts and red onion in a creamy sauce, Greek salad, etc. -- good stuff and a rare treat here in Meatxico) and head down to the local beach alone.

On my way, I saw my friend Steve riding by on his motorcycle. He stopped in the middle of the street to say hi. He could see it was making me nervous (I was afraid someone might hit him.) so he pulled over. We concurred we were both hungry and he wanted something from the Deli too. He also agreed it might be nice to go to the beach. As luck would have it, the torta (Mexxican sandwich) place on the corner was open too even though it was about 5pm and they usually close much earlier. I'd been craving a torta for 2 days but it's more of a lunch food and they often stop selling them by the time I'm out and about. We got our food and I reluctantly hopped on the back of his motorcycle thinking we were going just 2-3 blocks to the local beach.

Let me be clear that I hate motorcycles. They terrify me. That my college roommate did a documentary about the ER at Johns Hopkins and folks there call them "donorcycles" because of the number of accidents. And not too long ago, an artist died here when he was riding his motorcycle on the "highway" just down the road from where I live and a truck pulled out and hit him.

We started going toward the beach, but then turned off and I asked where he was going. He asked which beach I'd wanted to go to and I told him I thought we'd just go to O1as A1tas which is the nearest, but that I guess we could go somewhere else. Within minutes I found myself cruising down the highway on the back of a motorcycle. It wasn't cool I wasn't wearing a helmet, but he went slowly and drove conservatively (well, I told him to keep 2 hands on the wheel instead of using one to gesture as he told me a story). We ended up at a spot just beyond the wedding hotel I used to work at. It's a rocky beach so no one was there, but there was a nice log to sit on like a bench. The tide was coming in so they kept crashing closer and closer.

We ate our sandwiches and talked about different places in the States. He's from San Francisco but has lived down here since (as he said) George Bush senior was president. He has a leather clothing business (amongst several of his businesses) so he travels to the States every few months for shows.

The sun started going down and he seemed to make a gesture to leave by picking up his bag. I told him it was my absolute favorite time to be at the beach even though it's the time when many people want to leave. And asked if he needed to be somewhere or needed to leave. He didn't so we stayed until it started getting really dark.

I appreciate the sensuality of riding a bike, especially with another person. Imagine if you traveled like that together all the time. Although I guess it's a matter of choice how close you want to get and how tight you want to hold on. But I still prefer 4 wheels and a bit more enclosure. And that way you always have a little tent with you.