Three earthquakes in four days. The first one was Wednesday night. I was eating dinner with Ellen and Beth when there was a loud bang as if someone had dropped a refrigerator in the apartment above. Being clueless, I said that someone had probably dropped a refrigerator in the apartment above. Beth and Ellen were sure it was a quake.

Then last night, shopping in Borders, (I know, I know, but most of the time I support my wonderful neighborhood independent bookseller, Luan, whom I adore) there was another one.

And then one just now, about an hour ago. G, who keeps up on these things, says the epicenter is in Berkeley, it's the Hayward fault, and it may really blow, anytime now. The big one. I think of the tsunami last year, right after Christmas, and wonder if the general unease and minor depression I've been feeling could also be magnetic indication of something stirring beneath the earth's crust...