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A couple are in a public restroom together

I’m writing this at a java café near Ocean Beach in San Francisco. I was planning to write about politics but changed direction five minutes after a very interesting couple arrived. They were in a heated and loud discussion the minute they sat down across from me. “You’re my second cousin. You’re my cousin!” said the pretty, slim, mid-20 something woman. She is frenetic, nervous and agitated.

In contrast, the woman’s companion is confident, calm and composed, a tall and striking Asian looking James Dean. The woman was visibly upset while the man tried to calm her down. “What will people say?” she asked him. He can hardly get a word in while she talked non-stop, firing questions and accusations at him.

Yes, I’m eavesdropping but how can I resist? Hmmm, their unfolding and comedic drama is intriguing. “I already had a drink", the rambling woman continues. “Have another drink. Let’s go to a bar”, he urges her. She mumbles a question. “Who cares what they think”, the man continues. “You’re from L.A. and have that so and so attitude”, she snaps back. “Wow, that’s a bold accusation”, the man says in disbelief. They quickly leave the café and continue their heated conversation outside my window. The woman becomes more upset. Five minutes later, their voices trail off and they come back inside.

They've calmed down. They're no longer shouting at each other but are still in deep conversation. A bespectacled 30-something man walks in and sits between me and the two cousins. He reads his newspaper oblivious to the couple. It looks like their drama has ended but...

The man cousin goes into the bathroom. I smile to the woman and say “he’s cute!” “He’s my cousin", she says, not agreeing with my compliment. “He is so full of himself”, she says sarcastically. She then knocks on the bathroom door. Her cousin opens the door, pulls her in and locks the door. The bespectacled man and I look at each other in disbelief. “I should come here more often!” I said. He laughs. I try to concentrate on my writing and I bet he’s trying to continue reading. In case you’re wondering, they didn’t make a sound.

Five minutes later, the man quickly walks out of the bathroom frustrated. He sighs as he heads outside to smoke. A few minutes later, the woman comes out of the bathroom and sits at a different table. She doesn’t look as upset as she did earlier. She catches me looking at her. “What are you writing about?” she asks. “I’m just writing about things on my mind like current events", I say. Little does she know.

She mumbles something else but I can't hear her. Her cousin returns and sits at another table occasionally looking at us. She see's him, stops rambling to me and leaves with her cousin without saying a word.

Comments

Anonymous said…
apparently this happens a lot at java beach. i was there last week because i had to use the restroom, the door was locked and whoever was in there was taking a long time. finally when the door opened a woman and a man walked out and apologized with guilty looks on their faces. whether or not they were cousins i don't know.

~tanya, another s.f. native
Dyna said…
Are we talking about the same cafe? I wrote about the one across the street from the zoo, not the one at the streetcar roundabout off 46/47th.

If so that's realy something. Another "only in San Francisco" tidbit.

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