CHAPTER 1
I chose a window seat on the Greyhound, but I didn't look out. For almost the whole trip, I stared at the rough tan upholstery of the seat in front of me. It had a rip on one side and three dark stains.
A woman settled into the aisle seat. She raised her footrest, but it clunked back down. When I glanced her way, she caught my eye and smiled.
"How do you make these things stay put?" she asked.
I meant to answer -- the words were lined up in my mind. But before I could say them, they slipped apart like beads when the string breaks. I gave up and studied the seat cover again. Still tan, still ripped, still stained. The next time I looked, the woman was gone.
Evening came, but I didn't use my reading light. Late at night, awake in the breathing dark, I imagined running my fingers over the seat back, erasing the stains, mending the seam. In the morning, I almost believed I could fix it. So, I took care not to touch it, not to find out for sure.
In the afternoon, the bus left the freeway and crept through downtown traffic. I turned then, and peered through the mud-spattered window. As far as I could see, Los Angeles was a city of warehouses. I sank back into my seat.
When we reached the station, I claimed my suitcase and dragged it through the waiting room to the street. Outside I found blank walls and empty sidewalks. No direction and no one to ask.
Well, I ran away from college, then from New Orleans, and then Baton Rouge. Is it too soon to run away from here?
The traffic light at the end of the block turned green, and cars passed me by. When a city bus stopped and opened its doors, I climbed on. I couldn't think what else to do.
I paid the fare and took a seat near the front. Even though I pulled my suitcase aside, it poked out into the aisle. More people piled on at every stop, and all of them had to squeeze past it. I expected everyone to glare, but nobody gave me a second glance.
The bus started, stopped, started again. We passed through neighborhoods with trees and shops. The crowd thinned as passengers got off, going home. Should I get off too? No, not here. Where? Next stop, no, the one after. No, not that one. Every stop would be a whole different life, a different second chance.
Choose, choose. I couldn't. I rode till the bus pulled over and parked.
"Seventh and Pacific, San Pedro, Port of Los Angeles," called the bus driver. He turned to me and added, "End of the line, Miss."
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A NOTE FROM ANNE
I began "Pacific Avenue" with a greater sense of place than of characters. I put my main character, Kathy, into the gritty world of Pacific Avenue in San Pedro, California, a place I knew well. To my surprise, she began to walk around, think for herself, and talk back to me.
She brought up long-forgotten pictures of my years in New Orleans as well. Of men who came back from Vietnam, with their unimaginable memories. Of families struggling with the war, and with racial justice. Kathy is a young woman who "lives in interesting times," as the saying goes.
So, "Pacific Avenue" grew out of my love of these two places -- San Pedro and New Orleans -- and out of memories of the turbulent late '60s and early '70s. But it is not simply a political novel. It is a story of personal lives, loves, and coming of age.
It's also a story of an artist's development: Kathy becomes a puppeteer, and the puppets' stories are added to her own. Years before I wrote the book, I was a puppeteer myself. When my husband suggested I include this experience in the book, I knew it was exactly what the story needed.
Though it deals with serious issues, this is not a novel of despair. Instead, it weaves together love, loss, altruism, and forgiveness. I see it as a story of hope.
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NOVELS BY ANNE L. WATSON
SKEETER: A CAT TALE. When a stray kitten romps into Lynne's life, she has no idea what she's getting into. As Lynne describes in letters to her friend Angie, Skeeter is all cat -- high-spirited, contrary, inventive, and so goofy that he reminds Lynne of her own nuttiest escapades. No one who meets Skeeter will ever be quite the same again.
PACIFIC AVENUE. When young Kathy Woodbridge steps off the bus in San Pedro, California, she is running away from her past in Louisiana -- a past burdened by family tragedy and the imprisonment of the man she has loved. Soon she meets Lacey Greer, who can sense the young woman is deeply troubled. But before Lacey can help, she must uncover just what Kathy is running from.
JOY. In the Oakland, California, of 1989, Mirai San Julian is a young woman with a fascinating life and a rich past. She restores historic carousels -- her dream career -- working from her own studio in a former roller skating rink. But why is everything suddenly falling apart? Mirai knows how to restore a carousel, but can she restore relationships with those she loves?
