“And I’ll bet they said it wouldn’t last!”
Jason laughed. “That’s right. When I was going to high school, I used to work weekends as a tour guide.”
“I’m sure you were good.”
“The best. Would you like to hear some of my spiel?”
“I’d love to.”
Jason adopted the nasal tone of a tour guide. “Ladies and gentlemen, for your information, the oldest street in San Francisco is Grant Avenue, the longest is Mission Street—seven and a half miles long—the widest is Van Ness Avenue at one hundred twenty-five feet, and you’ll be surprised to know that the narrowest, DeForest Street, is only four and a half feet. That’s right, ladies and gentlemen, four and a half feet. The steepest street we can offer you is Filbert Street, with a thirty-one and a half percent grade.” He looked at Paige and grinned. “I’m surprised that I still remember all that.”
When they alighted from the cable car, Paige looked up at Jason and smiled. “What’s next?”
“We’re going to take a carriage ride.”
Ten minutes later, they were seated in a horse-drawn carriage that took them from Fisherman’s Wharf to Ghirardelli Square to North Beach. Jason pointed out the places of interest along the way, and Paige was surprised at how much she was enjoying herself. Don’t let yourself get carried away.
They went up to Coit Tower for a view of the city. As they ascended, Jason asked, “Are you hungry?”
The fresh air had made Paige very hungry. “Yes.”
“Good. I’m going to take you to one of the best Chinese restaurants in the world—Tommy Toy’s.”
Paige had heard the hospital staff speak of it.
The meal turned out to be a banquet. They started with lobster pot stickers with chili sauce, and hot and sour soup with seafood. That was followed by filet of chicken with snow peas and pecans, veal filet with Szechuan sauce, and four-flavored fried rice. For dessert, they had a peach mousse. The food was wonderful.
“Do you come here often?” Paige asked.
“As often as I can.”
There was a boyish quality about Jason that Paige found very attractive.
“Tell me,” Paige said, “did you always want to be an architect?”
“I had no choice.” Jason grinned. “My first toys were Erector sets. It’s exciting to dream about something and then watch that dream become concrete and bricks and stone, and soar up into the sky and become a part of the city you live in.”
I’m going to build you a Taj Mahal. I don’t care how long it takes!
“I’m one of the lucky ones, Paige, spending my life doing what I love to do. Who was it who said, ‘Most people live lives of quiet desperation?”
Sounds like a lot of my patients, Paige thought.
“There’s nothing else I would want to do, or any other place I would want to live. This is a fabulous city.” His voice was filled with excitement. “It has everything anyone could want. I never get tired of it.”
Paige studied him for a moment, enjoying his enthusiasm. “You’ve never been married?”
Jason shrugged. “Once. We were both too young. It didn’t work out.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No need to be. She’s married to a very wealthy meat packer. Have you been married?”
I’m going to be a doctor, too, when I grow up. We’ll get married, and we’ll work together.
“No.”
They took a bay cruise under the Golden Gate and Bay Bridge. Jason assumed his tour guide’s voice again. “And there, ladies and gentlemen, is the storied Alcatraz, former home of some of the world’s most infamous criminals—Machine Gun Kelly, Al Capone, and Robert Stroud, known as the Birdman! ‘Alcatraz’ means pelican in Spanish. It was originally called Isla de los Alcatraces, after the birds that were its only inhabitants. Do you know why they had hot showers every day for the prisoners here?”
“No.”
“So that they wouldn’t get used to the cold bay water when they were trying to escape.”
“Is that true?” Paige asked.
“Have I ever lied to you?”
It was late afternoon when Jason said, “Have you ever been to Noe Valley?”
Paige shook her head. “No.”