a strange, gentle man

In a straighter realm, a Bay Area wanderer is lost for good

"It was both a failure and an accomplishment that I kept Randy Robinson's orchid alive for over a year. I'm not otherwise the type -- I barely manage to buy milk -- but a small voice said that flowers given to you by people like Randy are worth the effort; maybe they're as rare and fragile as the people who gave them to you. Anyway, the orchid's a withered bit of straw on my back porch now. Only thing left to do is talk about Randy himself."