BING BIP BOP!

p strongBing Bip Bop!/strong/p p nbsp;/p p The thoughts are fleeting.nbsp; One cannot afford to daydream too much.nbsp; I sit atnbsp;a desk where I fulfill my duties as front desk clerk to the best of my motivationmdash;which tends to vary day to day, minute to minute, daydream to daydream.nbsp; The apartment complex hired me because, I assume, of my mild-mannered nature.nbsp; I look at my surroundings.nbsp; Not far above hangs a chandelier resembling a mass of translucent bubblesmdash;an oversized representation of molecules that seemingly float above my desk.nbsp; I remember hearing a story once about Elvis Presley filling his swimming pool withnbsp;light bulbs which he proceeded to fire away at with a shotgun. nbsp;The chandelier has several lights out./p p nbsp;/p p I look out the windows of the large French doors that seem to frame the large palm trees and other plant life surrounding the property.nbsp; A delivery came a couple days ago.nbsp; The leasing office orders air freshener boxes that circulate laboratory concocted aromas throughout the lobbymdash;lemon, pine, sprucemdash;reminiscent of a country club restroom.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p I hear a womanrsquo;s voice say, ldquo;First floor, going uprdquo;.nbsp; The elevator opens and closes like an antiseptic womb.nbsp; The residents spill onto the waxed-over marble floor.nbsp; I need to get a job recording ldquo;going uprdquo; and ldquo;going downrdquo; for the elevator company.nbsp; I imagine getting residual checks in the mail, for I too, need elevationmdash;of the spiritual kind.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p I sit and let the daydreams take hold.nbsp; I think about the building I spend 8 hours of my life in daily.nbsp; The units in the complex are similar to many others in SFmdash;overpriced with a nbsp;preponderance of young (and some mid aged and elder) recent arrivals with jobs in tech, financemdash;or those who describe themselves as entrepreneurs.nbsp; Irsquo;m not sure what they do all day.nbsp; Some take cabs to work and have an occasionalnbsp;limo pick them up en route to SFO.nbsp; Some have maid service.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p The maids are mostly female, immigrant; carrying buckets of housecleaning supplies. I dream that the cleaning ladies replace the young, mostly white, mostly college educated residents; moving their families in and creating community that is not based on fake wealth but on culture and spirit.nbsp; I imagine those young so-called professionals who earn 7,000-10,000 a month swinging mops, brooms and using toothbrushesmdash;to get those hard to reach spots./p p nbsp;/p p I think about the cleaning ladies.nbsp; The Chinese one speaks Spanish and the Latina speaks Chinese.nbsp; I wonder where they are from, how they got here and how they feel about cleaning someonersquo;s apartment, a CEO letrsquo;s say, one who doesnrsquo;t think to leave a tip.nbsp; I see them hanging up the vacuums and dust rags for good when Irsquo;m jolted out of my blissful daydream./p p emldquo;Uhhellip;excuse merdquo;/em/p p Back to reality./p p There he stands, very clean, emtoo /emclean.nbsp; If itrsquo;s possible to dry clean a human, he would be the result./p p ldquo;Can you call me a cab?rdquo; he asks.nbsp; His tone assumes that he shouldnrsquo;t be prompted to ask, that I should know his needs by osmosis, or E.S.P.nbsp;/p p ldquo;Sure thingrdquo; I answer.nbsp; ldquo;No problem.nbsp; By the wayhellip;nice day outside isnrsquo;t it (etc. etc. etc.)/p p I look at him, medium build, wire rimmed glasses, polo shirt.nbsp; Hersquo;s in decent shape.nbsp; The look of him annoys me.nbsp; The little polo man on his shirt senses this too, jumps off the horse.nbsp; The horse takes off leaving the little man and the shirt behind./p p ldquo;Those are nice glassesrdquo;, I say.nbsp; ldquo;Can I see lsquo;em?rdquo;/p p ldquo;Ohellip;emK/emrdquo;/p p I remove the glasses (gently, of course) and delicately place them on the desk next to a copy of the San Francisco Bayview Newspaper--www.sfbayview.com--a href="http://www.sfbayview.comnbsp; That"(/aThat I read on the sly).nbsp; I look into his seemingly innocent, liquid eyes and let it go, a straight right hand./p p br / strongemBING!/em/strong/p p nbsp;/p p Itrsquo;s a clean right hand, a beautiful shot, square on the jaw, reminiscent of right hands thrown by Alexis Arguello, Roberto Duran, Thomas Hearns, Et al.nbsp; The sound it makeshellip;emBING/emhellip;resonates with echoes that reach the pantheon of the great knockout artists of the past, leaving a trail of polo shirt wearingnbsp;yuppies (and buppies/puppies/schluppies etc.)nbsp;in its wake./p p emAre you going to call me a cab?rdquo;/em/p p Back to reality.nbsp;/p p ldquo;Yes sirrdquo;/p p He sits down on the couch putting a dent in it while enjoying the coffee thatnbsp;emi /emmade, polo shirt intact./p p nbsp;/p p I sit back in my chair.nbsp; The walkie talkie blares.nbsp; Itrsquo;s the maintenance supervisor speaking in abridged sentences.nbsp; ldquo;Front desk do you copy?rdquo; he says.nbsp; He barks some kind of order.nbsp; Hersquo;s quite a study.nbsp; For a man who doesnrsquo;t own one inch of the property, he has convinced himself that the property is his domain and that everybody elsemdash;except the property managermdash;are his serfs.nbsp; One of my duties is making coffee for the residents, stacking sugar packets and creamer on a lazy Susan.nbsp; As a revolutionary, I hate doing this but I need the job so I curse every drop that comes out of the coffee maker.nbsp; The maintenance supervisor, as part of his perambulatory ritual (by ldquo;Perambulatoryrdquo;, I refer to his walking inspectionmdash;basically a quasi official-looking circuitous chickenshit saunter of my work area with both his ass and chest sticking out simultaneously) checks the couch, the rug, the kitchen area and the coffee pots.nbsp;/p p nbsp;/p p He comes to the desk and says I have to make more coffee and make sure to prop the pillows, so they look like marshmallows--but in reality those pillows resemble his midriff.nbsp; I ask myself, is this guy a coffee critic, an interior designer, or a maintenance man?nbsp; He also adds, ldquo;Donrsquo;t drop the American flag on the ground when you raise the flag in the morningrdquo;.nbsp; I look at the folds in his face, the jowls, his salt and pepper hair andhellip;/p p nbsp;/p p strongemBIP!/em/strong/p p nbsp;/p p I let loose a right cross, beautifully placed on the jaw.nbsp; He goes down, all 295 lbs (Oh hell, letrsquo;s round it off to 300) of him.nbsp; I walk over to him, look down, lift his face and slap it a few times./p p ldquo;Donrsquo;t drop the flagrdquo; a voice says./p p Back to reality./p p nbsp;/p p Finally, a voice comes to me.nbsp; Itrsquo;s my uncle.nbsp; He tells me to be cool, calm down.nbsp; Hersquo;s a street minister now but in his heyday he had a string of knockouts from Fillmore to the Philippines.nbsp; ldquo;God bless yourdquo; he says and I begin to feel the blessing, the love for Godrsquo;s creaturesmdash;insect, fish, fowl, microbe and human.nbsp; I close my eyes and a voice says:nbsp; ldquo;The water in the spa isnrsquo;t hot enough!rdquo;/p p I look and itrsquo;s a resident Irsquo;ve nicknamed empoppy seed /emdue to his poppy seed ass.nbsp; He says he stuck his toe in the water and it gave him a chill.nbsp; He made much fuss and I began to dream./p p nbsp;/p p strongemBOP!/em/strong/p p nbsp;/p p Another right hand to the jaw.nbsp; He goes down. I laugh.nbsp; I ask God to forgive me.nbsp;nbsp; I laugh more./p p He stands in front of me./p p ldquo;What about the spa?rdquo; he asks./p p I keep laughing at his face, cold toe and poppy seed ass.nbsp; I laugh and laugh with sounds BING BIP BOP in my ears./p