Tales of the City

Mary Ann invites Michael and Mona for brunch but they decline. Mary Ann mentions that Mona looks distracted. Mary Ann goes to brunch alone, but bumps into Norman, who helps her cut to front of the line. He is with his friend’s daughter, Lexy. They eat brunch together and then go back to the apartment on the roof. Mary Ann and Norman talk while “Alexandra chased pigeons in the sunshine” (157). Norman reveals that he and Lexy’s father were in Vietnam together. He invites Mary Ann to a screening of Detective Story that night. 

Beauchamp and DeDe are “a pair again” (158). After brunch, he walks the dog while DeDe attends to her letters. When he’s gone, she phones her friend Binky and asks for her help in finding a doctor. Binky suggests someone “‘gentle, discreet and a treat to look at’” (159) and provides Jon’s details. 

Michael lies in the sun before his dance contest. Brian approaches and introduces himself. They talk about dating in San Francisco and theorize about moving back to a small town to get away from the hassle. They agree that they “‘fantasize over all the wrong things’” (163).

Brian flirts with an African-American woman at the restaurant where he works. She agrees to meet him after work for a drink and introduces herself as D’orothea. Mona and Michael arrive at The Endup for the dance contest. Michael changes into his outfit in the ladies’ room alongside his competition, who seems “artificially flippant” (163) and “hungry for victory” (163). He mingles before the competition starts. 

Brian meets D’orothea. He learns that she’s a model who has just moved to San Francisco from New York. She teases Brian about being a “‘lib-ber-rull’” (164) and confesses that she needs someone to talk to. She tells Brian her life story: she is chasing a lover she used to know and who happens to be a woman. When Brian correctly guesses the end to this story, D’orothea tells him that “‘this drink’s on me’” (165). 

Michael tries to steady his nerves before his dance. Mona offers moral support. While introducing Michael, the master of ceremonies struggles to pronounce Michael’s surname. Michael turns “bright red” (167) as he climbs onto the dance platform. He dances, slipping “his mind into neutral” (167). For a moment, his mind switches back into gear, and he spots Jon in the crowd. Jon’s face “wrinkle[s] with disdain and then turned away” (167). As soon as the music stops, Michael jumps from the stage and chases Jon but does not reach him in time. Michael wins the contest (and $100) and begins to cry. 

Mary and Norman leave the cinema and walk home. When he invites her for Chinese food, Mary Ann realizes “how much she liked this bumbling, kindly, Smokey the bear man with a clip-on tie” (168) though she is not particularly attracted to him. The waiter in the tiny restaurant chides her in front of everyone for not washing her hands. They leave shortly after. They kiss, and Mary Ann accidently removes Norman’s clip-on tie. 

Sometimes, Vincent feels like “the last hippie in the world” (170). He thinks about his departed girlfriend. After the war, she began to grow interested in self-defense and alternative medicine, any way to channel all of the energy she had previously displayed. Vincent feels sad and stares at a “Keep on Truckin” poster she had put up, and tears it down. He decides to kill himself at the switchboard, where Mary Ann will find his dead body. 

Mary Ann stops by Mona and Michael’s apartment before leaving for the switchboard. She steps inside to find Michael heartbroken and weeping. When Mary Ann leaves, Michael misses Mona’s company and eats a snack. Michael’s mother calls to let him know that his father has managed to secure them a trip from Florida to San Francisco. They will be coming to visit during Halloween. 

Anna has prepared her room ahead of Edgar’s arrival. He has been at a cocktail party with his wife; DeDe drove the “‘barely conscious’” (174) Frannie home. They drink tea in bed, and Anna theorizes that everyone in San Francisco was—in a previous life—Atlantean. When the earthquake strikes, they will all return together to the sea. When Edgar slips out of the house later than night, Anna watches him go. So does Norman. 

Mary Ann is running late but recognizes Edgar’s Mercedes parked outside the house. She passes Brian on her way out and refuses his offer to smoke a joint after her shift at the switchboard. Mary Ann makes small talk with a stranger on the streetcar, and the old woman tells her about the power of Jesus Christ. When she arrives at the switchboard, it is dark. She finds Vincent dead, hanging from the ceiling with his tongue “protruding from his mouth like a fat black sausage” (177). 

A young policeman drops Mary Ann at Barbary Lane. Desperate not to be alone, she knocks on Brian’s door. Brian listens to what happened with “a face devoid of expression” (178). To distract Mary Ann, he tells her about the boring house party he attended that evening: To get away from the “‘pathetic, middle-class prison’” (179), he smokes a joint in a bedroom, and one of the hosts’ children asks him to read her a bedtime story. Brian recalls his experience as a lawyer working in Chicago, helping black people and draft resisters. He hated the job but loved the causes. Mary Ann thanks him for listening and leaves.