Whatever Happened to That Kid?

Today I drove my Grandpa to a radiation treatment in UCSF. He lived in the Sunset District with his mom for five years when he was in Junior High and High School, and after treatment he directed me around his old stomping grounds. Apartments now stand where his high school, Polytechnic, once stood. Both the boys and girls gyms still stand on either side of the apartments. It was a four story school that took up a whole block. Huge.

Office Max was a garage. The movie theatre is now something else as well. His house is now a Chinese Restraunt next to Pizza Orgasmica. He lived on the second floor, near the back. There are still some apartments there. How cool would it be if I moved into those apartments some day?

There is a prominent Chinese culture in that area now, but when he was there, there were only two Chinese people in the area he could think of. One owned a Mexican restraunt across the street.

Grandpa had a million different jobs. He had a paper route. He worked for the post office during Christmas. He worked as an usher at the movie theatre, he worked for an Italian butcher... and many other places right there in the neighborhood.

We drove home through the presidio, a route he rode bikes on when he was a teenager. The sun was starting to go down, it was a clear day, and the views were beautiful.

Grandpa dozed on and off a little bit. He was tired after such a trying day, no doubt. Just before we got home, he wondered out loud whatever happened to that kid. The kid being himself, back when he lived in SF.

I said he might still be around, but he wasn't too sure.