Chapter 41

Jenn and Justin were in San Jose by morning. It was too early to check in to the hotel, but she wanted to show him around before she left to see friends. She drove them to the church they would have the wedding at. She parked near the church office and they walked in. 

“Jenn! Great to see you!” said one of the pastors. 

“Justin, this is Pastor Larry. He’s our choir director. I joined once I moved down here.”

“She was one of our soloists for a bit, even on the worship team.  You know, it is Wednesday, choir night. It’d be great to see you back for a night. Justin, what do you do?”

Justin was a little taken aback. 

“Justin is a singer, songwriter. He’s pretty good.” Jenn joked. 

“You should join us too then, just for tonight. Unless we can talk you into staying.”  

“ We’ll think about it Larry. I wanted to show him the church cause we’re looking to get married here in September.”

“WHAT?! Congratulations!  That’s such great news!  Sure, have a look around.” Larry said excitedly. 

They walked into the main sanctuary.  “OK, it was weird to have someone NOT know who I am…” Justin said. 

“Larry’s great though. Super friendly. I do miss singing here. The party isn’t til 9, choir is done by 8:30, I’m tempted to go tonight.”

“Would you mind if I came too? Hear you in your element, shine a little.”

“I think it’d be cute watching you sight read the sheet music. If you’re sure, yeah, come along.”

“Ok. You’ll drop me off at the hotel on your way to the party?”

“Yeah. The party is actually walking distance from the hotel, so I’ll just walk there and back. Anyway, I was thinking of candles here on this part of the stage, the piano will be off to the side. Lots of room for flowers everywhere.”

He noticed her voice echoing in the church. “Man, this place has amazing acoustics!” He said. 

“Follow me to the lobby, you should hear in there.”

They walked into the lobby of the sanctuary. “Sing just a little of your part of “I Thought She Knew,” she instructed. 

He started with the opening oohs, got through the first line, and was blown away with the reverb there was just from how it was designed. His eyes got big as he sang. “Damn…”

They left the church to have brunch at a place nearby called The Cardinal. It was a 24 hour diner, booths and chairs of sparkly Ruby red dress plastic upholstery. At night their lounge was open as a piano bar. 

“I’d come here almost once a week, the hot cocoa is amazing. I think I’ll get their Monte Cristo sandwich. If a restaurant has THAT in their menu, I pick that over eggs Benedict,” Jenn said. 

They ordered and ate their food and headed towards the hotel. They parked at the hotel, having the valet park it. Across the street was a long park. Mostly sidewalk, but there was a big section in the middle that intrigued Justin. 

“A couple weeks ago they were still having Christmas In The Park here. Santa over here, Christmas trees decorated by various organizations around the park, but here in the middle was their stage. Dance troops, bands, and choirs would perform here every night. Our choir usually gets a slot on a Saturday night, we have the kids choir come too, it’s a little cheesy but fun. I’m usually only here during that at night, hadn’t really noticed it during the daytime.”

They walked around the perimeter of the park. They got to the south end of the park. Justin was shocked by a statue he saw. 

“Your park has a giant statue of a turd?” He gasped. 

“It’s Quetzalcoatl, a coiled Aztec snake god. It’s supposed to represent the city’s Mexican heritage, but everyone just calls it the poop statue. So to answer your question, yes and no.”

They walked to the western part of the park, and crossed the street towards a giant orange building. 

“This is the Tech Museum.  Follow me, my favorite part doesn’t even require admission,” she said. 

She led him to a giant wall. Within the wall was a series of contraptions and things, using pool balls to go through the various parts. 

“It shows how physics works by setting off different parts. It all starts at the top, goes through the maze of reactions, before ending at the bottom. The belt carries the balls up to the top where they start again. I could watch this all day and not get tired of it. Best of all it’s free to look at.  Where science meets art.”

Justin watched the balls within their course, spinning around, falling and bouncing off of things to land just right and continue their course, looping on tracks. He smiled, watching it like a little kid. “That’s really cool.”

“Down that way is the theater where the city does its Broadway musical performances, there’s a smaller theater over here, and another theater a couple blocks east. There’s a small concert venue on the other side of the theater, and the city convention center across the street. Down this street is a historic theater that now is home to the city’s orchestra and opera company. There’s a lot that goes on in just a few blocks here,” Jenn said. 

“I’ve done shows here before, but never gotten a real tour around,” Justin said. 

“Next time you’re here we should go to the Winchester Mystery House. It’s across town but loads of people say it’s haunted. Her family was rich from making guns for the Civil War, but her husband and child died. She was said to be haunted by those who died from the family’s guns, and she built this huge house to please but also confuse the ghosts. It has twists, turns, doors that open to a brick wall or a 3 story drop. It has beautiful Tiffany windows. It’s really something, it’s world famous.”

“You really love it here, don’t you? You know so much about the city.” Justin was impressed. 

“I lived here for two years before moving back home. My friends took me to the tourist stuff while I was in college. There’s so much more around here, the city is huge, bigger than San Francisco.”