“So I turn left here?”
“Yep. Left here.”
“Do they have a green when I have a green?”
“No. I don’t think so. No.”
“I just want to know who I have to look out for.” » Read the rest of this entry «
#252: The Seventh Night
December 6th, 2013 § permalink
There’s something purely Christmas about Michigan Avenue in December.
Maybe it’s the commerce, or the reckless consumption. Maybe it’s the dedication to swindling people out of their savings and shaming them for trying to choose food and shelter and maybe their kids’ education over bric-a-brac and baubles made for 12 cents in Shenzhen and sold for $12,000 in Chicago’s Disneyland of future debt. » Read the rest of this entry «
#251: Karen’s Stone Soup
December 4th, 2013 § permalink
“Many thanks for what you have taught us,” the peasants said to the soldiers. “We shall never go hungry, now that we know how to make soup from stones.”
– “Stone Soup” by Marcia Brown, from the traditional folk tale » Read the rest of this entry «
#250: 1,001 Miami Afternoons
December 2nd, 2013 § permalink
It’s story #250, just under a quarter through my quest to tell 1,001 tales of Chicago, but my mind couldn’t be further from the place.
It’s in Rockford, Illinois, where my parents are cleaning the wreckage of a big family Thanksgiving. It’s in the Quad Cities, where my aunt is returning to her routine of the night shift at the post office. It’s in Seattle, where my sister is starting a new life, and it’s on the train bringing my girlfriend back to me from St. Louis.
And it just texted me from O’Hare, saying it made it with plenty of time for the flight back to Florida and had a great time staying with me. » Read the rest of this entry «
#249: Thanks
November 29th, 2013 § permalink
I’m thankful that I’m almost at story 250. I’m thankful my girlfriend helped with the pie and I’m going to get to show my cousin the record store with the old arcade games in the back.
It’s Thanksgiving, that day of rest spent complaining the world doesn’t give you time to be thankful. » Read the rest of this entry «
#248: Find the Queen
November 27th, 2013 § permalink
If he said a few words before he pulled out the velvet-covered piece of cardboard with the three green pop bottle caps on it, I didn’t hear them.
The conversation was behind me, among the inward facing seats on the hated Red Line nausea cars. A man in a thick tan jacket and stocking cap with a hint of a tattoo peeking out from his sleeve pulled out the board with the pop bottle caps and promised $50 to whoever could spot where the ball was. » Read the rest of this entry «
#247: Doctor Who’s On First
November 25th, 2013 § permalink
Nerds.
Just a buncha goddamn nerds.
Nerds blocking the stairs. Nerds cramming the bars and taking up the booths. Nerds dressed up as the men from TV, clapping and cheering between the whams and slams on the show amid bouts of reciting each other nerd trivia.
But luckily the game ended and the nerds in jerseys left so the rest of us normals could watch the “Doctor Who” 50th anniversary episode.
“This is like Christmas!” said a girl wearing thick glasses and a T-shirt of Matt Smith fighting zombies. » Read the rest of this entry «
#246: The Tender Destroyer
November 22nd, 2013 § permalink
You can still smoke in a VFW bar. More likely some bylaw for private clubs than payment for services rendered, but the small room tucked in a brick building on Kedzie has taken advantage of that. » Read the rest of this entry «
#245: Night Drive
November 20th, 2013 § permalink
Of the 10 or so guys hanging out in front of the house in North Lawndale, it was the one in the wheelchair who scared me. » Read the rest of this entry «
#244: You, Me, Dancing
November 18th, 2013 § permalink
The ketubah has been read, the glass smashed and didn’t she look lovely walking down the aisle? So happy. Tears in her eyes. I almost lost it too. » Read the rest of this entry «
