Upon my travels near the shores of the South Lagune Valley my companion decided The road churned from a narrow strip of infinite time to a wide noisy blot on the landscape of a small town, a scar that formed a central street pockmarked with equally ugly potholes and shops surrounded by houses whose occupants I imagined had to travel far to get anywhere worth being. But my companion had their business (which obviously is not mine to discuss) so I decided to exit our car and sample the little flavors of this town. I would never purposefully watch a man who did not want to be watched but on this walk I caught a broad man in a white shirt groping towards his genitals as he looked out towards the sea. There were many buildings, that from their location along a thoroughfare in such a beautiful tourist laden land I knew to be shops, but seemed somewhat embarrassed about it. The closest I could see was a wonderful cottage like structure made of more slanting roof than brick walls, covered with greenery like fine icing on a cake, yet whose only indication of business was a hanging open sign behind a grimed and vined front window. I made for it, partially to check to see if the owner had not died The dog which she seemed so worried about hardly seemed alive at all. White and long haired, it barely made a sound as it wandered from the shop to some other part of the old house over and over, as if looking for something. The concern she took spoke of a troubled past for the hound or perhaps herself, some fight that was now far out of reach to a passing shadow like me. Time stretched thin and tingly as she prepared the plant, pouring in those small kinds of stone found by rivers over it till they ran over the lip, at which point she considered it ready for presentation. The unthreatening dog watched me with weary eyes the whole time. Other stores advertised magic crystals, from yawning dark doorways that wafted out heavy incense to great me. In the blackness I spied the eyes of a shopkeeper who were already locked with mine, inviting me inside promising avarice and desperation. Checking back at the car for my companion was still absent and I thought it would likely be at their zenith for quite a while ,so I sought the shade of what seemed to be the sole establishment open for rest on a day like this. I could tell the tequila bar would have quite the energy as night pulled the sea into inky blackness, but in this most benally pleasant of days it sat quiet, warm, and well lit with a wide tired looking bartender betwixt the counter a beautiful assortment of colored bottles and various bar trinkets. The emptiness of the place forced me with an invisible hand away from the few tables to the bar stool, though I only ordered a water. I didn’t particularly want to talk to the man who wandered in, he was the very same as I’d seen earlier with the questing hand towards his member, which while spotted by complete accident was a telling tale of character. However his outward manner was so overwhelmingly positive I was shaken “That hound clathe plant shop hounds seemed to provoke a great fright “Whats in the bag.” “A plant, some form of succulent. I might try to identify the species later.“ “If you’re heading up all the way to Oregaton why the, why’d you get a succulent. Thing will totally die in the cold, bad idea.” I eyed my “Well of course I know that, I- we will just be stopping there a while before moving on somewhere else. Won’t head home for, quite a while.” I took it out of my bag, spilling a few of those stones on the counter while setting it in front of me. “It is a beautiful plant isn’t it?” “Mhm. Yeah.” “I guess I don’t know! I guess I wanted to do something, and Ilike plants and I wanted to support that miserable looking woman and here miserable looking dog. I bought the plant because I wanted to is that so wrong?” The man seemed a kind of doughy sphere to me. I did everything I could to not look at him as he spoke to me, “Just seems like a bad reason to do something is all.” “And what would you do! Given the same options hmmm? What harm have I done, why do you have to question me?” The bartender had retreated to the depths of some storage room. We were alone. “If you think like that then why do you do anything, whats the purpose in any single thing we do, are we only meant to assure survival, horde our wealth so that only the strong may survive.” “Man, what the hell are you talking about.” Day wheels and asphalt rolled onwards.