Real

Poulsbo, Washington
8:00 PM


Mary, the owner of the Poulsbo Cafe, calls this section of town bohemia. When asked to delineate the boundaries, she happily motions to the area that covers her coffee shop. Obama stickers are pasted on the shop's napkin dispensers. The shop is cozy.

It has the square footage that a Starbucks in New York would envy. The three men and three women in the shop tonight are intimately bound in one threaded conversation: Politics, Doonesbury, bacon fat, and Wicca lore. I recognized the library assistant from the local library among them who nodded a "hi" to me.

What made me drop by for a cup of coffee is the view. The panorama of the Puget Sound can be seen from the front of the shop. At 8:00 p.m., I can see houses on other side of the waters; their lights reflect shards of light upon the waters. The view is cinematograghic. The water is placid in the bay. The marina is nearby and the boardwalk looks like it floats upon the water.

If this were the Hamptons, the real estate would be triple in value.