Red Door, Black Door – Watercolor – 21 x 29 inches.
Every morning, the Queen of North Beach walks her panther. In San Francisco it is illegal to walk your pet without a leash. (You have to look closely to see that the panther’s leash is only a ribbon that the Queen chose to match the color of her dress and parasol.)
She told me that one morning a policeman stopped her to warn her that a ribbon was not a real leash.
“It was just an excuse,” she said, “to ask me for my phone number.”
“Did you give it to him?”
“I gave him a smile.”