The other day — as I do most mornings — I was sitting outside a cafe on my neighborhood’s main commercial street. As Los Angeles goes, it’s about as good as it gets. I make the best of it enough to thoroughly enjoy it.
As I lingered, an increasing number of people lurked on the sidewalk in front of the cafe, waiting anxiously for space to open up.
At one point, a polite, though relatively aggressive pair— the two ladies standing up in the image that anchors this article — came up to me and asked if I’d let them know when I was leaving so they could have my position in the shade. As they walked to a table in the hot sun, one of them said —