from Sixfold

The Day I Saw Janis

This might be my last chance to see her, I was thinking that day when the gear shifter on my old Beetle broke off. I was in the far-left lane on the Bay Bridge, the broken shifter in my hand, my foot on the clutch, the car in neutral and starting to decelerate. My friend Vic was in the passenger seat singing along to The Byrds on the radio, crooning “A time to laugh, a time to weep.” He didn’t notice what was happening and just kept singing, so I held the metal bar out to him. Read the full story