Los Angeles Air

When I visited Los Angeles this past week I was reminded of some of those futuristic movies where the whole city is in chaos, rogues run the place, and the sky is dark. Everything is crumbling, and lawlessness is the order of the day.
In reality, I can’t say that I believe downtown Los Angeles is gorgeous by any measure, so there weren’t any crumbling buildings, and the weather is generally beautiful, at least to the eye.
So every time around the fall I tend to get my little fall allergies, and if I’m unlucky, they turn into bronchitis. Since this year was no exception and I knew that I had a road trip ahead of me, I took every opportunity to rest up for my long trip to the land of the stars. By the time I loaded up my Civic and jumped on highway 5, I was ready for anything Los Angeles had to dish out. Boy was I wrong!
Day 1: I knew I was doomed. I was stuffed up again, stifling a cough, but I gave myself the illusion that I had everything under control, that a little rest would help.
Day 2: The convention center was stuffy and a little too warm, but I found the booth where four other authors would be joining me for the weekend and set up my books and waited for the festivities to begin. The air conditioning kicked in, and I knew that I was going to have problems. I went from being hot to extremely cold, and extremely sleepy. By the end of the day I barely knew my name. One of my fellow authors and I dragged ourselves to our automobiles, and the twelve miles back to the hotel seemed a lot more like a hundred miles on the super-maze highway 110 going south. Head pounding, I carefully laid myself across the bed to eat a Caesar salad from McDonalds. Yes, I was desperate for something to eat. No, it really didn’t get eaten as I realized that my plans for the evening were not going to materialize because everyone else was just as worn as I was and could not pry themselves from their bed either. I took my medication and tried to get better for the next day.
Day 3: My whole body begged for mercy as I showered and dressed as if nothing was wrong. Every cough reminded me of just how sore I had become from coughing the previous day, so I walked around most of the day looking as if I could strangle to death at any given moment. By the middle of the day I started feeling better, and to continue feeling that way, I decided to leave the Los Angeles Black Business Expo early. I hopped in my little car and quickly found the 110 south freeway entrance. It was a nice night, so I rolled both windows down to get some fresh air. Bad move…I started coughing so hard that I couldn’t see where I was going. Luckily the traffic was moving at a crawl so I was able to see the road out of watery strained eyes. I got the impression that I should roll up my windows, and although the coughing didn’t cease, it did ease up a little. Finally I made it back to my room, put on some comfortable clothes and kicked back. It was stuffy in the room, though, so I opened the window for some fresh air…next thing you know I’m practically wallowing around on the floor, trying not to cough my brains out. After a few more moments, I realized that the air was choking me, and choking me bad.
Day 4: I got smart and kept my windows rolled up on the way to the convention center. But by that time, I had grown tired of breathing stale air (what I could actually take in) and quickly returned to my room and shut the door until it was time to take my behind back to the bay area. Oh, and I had so many plans for L.A. I was going to eat at Roscoe’s and go shopping for one of those pink diamond rings I see a lot of people wearing. But this trip did make me realize one thing, that there is a lot of pollution in that city. People complain about it and make jokes about it, but it became all too real for me this time around. So if you are living there and can’t figure out why you’re always sick, you’re probably not alone. And if you visit and can’t figure out what’s wrong with you, try avoid rolling your windows down on the freeway. There’s nothing worse than being in the middle of traffic and you can’t breathe. Overall, I enjoyed my trip, don’t get me wrong. But now, now I know what I’m up against when I head south.

Chandra Adams
Author
Shades of Retribution
www.AdrolitePress.com
www.ChandraAdams.com