Trip to Chicago, Part 6. Tuesday, May 9th.

DIARY

Not quite as much to say about this day. Jess and I slept in somewhat at Sams, then returned to Hyde Park via the Chicago bus. We stopped at "Steve's Place" downtown for lunch. It was one of those half-sized shack greasy spoons, and while waiting in line I saw one of the most unusual Latin (?) art-soft porn-soap operas (?) playing on the television hung behind a counter. A woman ran back and forth in a kitchen trying to hide a retarded (?) man (who was evidently having flashbacks to when he was a child standing in the rain - I couldn't tell - the TV had been muted) hiding under the kitchen table. He was doing a very poor job hiding. When another woman, older, shrewish looking, entered the room, the first woman, who was young with artificially red hair, stood with her back to the table to hide the man. When the shrewish woman left, the man climbed out. This process repeated several times. Finally, the redheaded woman, trying to coax the man to do who-knows-what pulled her skirt down in exasperation and impatience. Cut to two naked people curled up under a blanket in a rocking chair. I don't think I've ever seen so much ass-crack in a diner before.

When Jess and I got back to Hyde Park we rested up awhile, then headed up to 47th street to meet Gemma. We spent a very long time waiting for the bus, which took us to the Red Line and on to Edgewater. We went shopping on Sheridan Road, and then continued on up to Rogers Park for dinner. A group of four boys jumped a fifth right in front of us. Jess called 911 and reported it. We got to Leonas and were trying to scrable through dinner before Gemma's rehearsal, but time ran up. We got it in to-go bags and walked the two blocks to a field house on Lake Michigan. We said goodbye, though we were to see Gemma again on Judgment Day.

Jess and I headed back south with our food and stopped at a park on the Loyola Campus by the lake. We sat on a bench and ate and watched three boys playing frisbee by the water. They were yelling a lot, and giving me ideas for the play I am writing. The sky was cloudy and the wind something fierce, but it did not rain.

It was very poetic, the buildings, the land, the sand, the lake.

We got on the Red Line and rode back south. On the way, I caught a glimpse of my old apartment building in Edgewater Beach.

Later that night, we stopped at the last Scavhunt meeting before the Hunt. Items were read and, in a stroke of genius, the list was read through. To cap it off, Jess and I headed to Jimmy's with Ian Victor and Courtney. We blasted through a pitcher and returned to Tom's.

END OF POST.