Part VI

Written on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 at 12:36am

I have been brainstorming recently about ways to potentially get arrested. I am not serious in my desire for a criminal record, rather, I am enjoying a simple day dream as our neighborhood is the beat for a certain aesthetically pleasing police officer. Once while I was attempting to find words to describe this man’s fit form, his shiny dark hair and thick lush lashes, my husband (who, mind you, is NEVER jealous..) exclaimed “I have thick lashes too...SEE!!”  He then proceeded to wildly blink in demonstration (my husband..not the cop.) 

We have had a busy weekend in the neighborhood. There have been no shootings nearby (that I know of) and the weekend began with the usual Friday night dose of positive loitering  (group gossip/therapy session.) Saturday was community filled, beginning bright and early with our humble neighborhood yard sale and morphing throughout the day into a fantastically successful block party complete with face painting, tango demonstrations, dog contests judged by our esteemed alderman, cool skateboarders, and a couple local bands. I spent the earlier part of the day trying to force kids to take my yard sale clothes (as I have the height of the average 11 year old..) and I spent my afternoon attempting to befriend every neighborhood dog and dog owner.  Coming from Andersonville where I would run into friendly familiar faces every time I went for a walk, I was thrilled to bits to be a part of the block party where for the first time since grudgingly moving to Uptown, I felt part of a community. 

Through my daily sittings and neighborhood loitering sessions, i have been so fortunate to meet so many truly kind and unique people..

There is the small frighteningly organized and dedicated speech therapist/ Clarendon Park organizer/face painter with her studious looking glasses.. (I have fabricated that my husband has a crush on this woman in order to justify my recent ‘cop ogling’ problem..)

There is the thin black woman with the mile wide smile who lives in the row houses across the way from my home and who turns on her sprinkler when too many kids are loitering nearby. Due to watering frequency, her small patch of ground is soon to resemble the emerald hills of Ireland. She has one daughter making her way in the world beginning with the Southern Illinois University campus and another daughter of about twelve years (I think) with cute puffy hair, a gorgeous shy smile and a pink bike that nearly ran over my foot.

There is my aforementioned neighbor, the father of four, who upon running into me the day of the block party, immediately asked, “is there a baby coming yet?”  SHEESH!

There is my downstairs neighbor from Singapore who upon watching a kid carelessly toss garbage on the street, commented that if only public floggings were allowed in this country..our neighborhood would be much cleaner..

There is a tiny, old, cranky, white woman with a mean looking muzzled dog, but upon closer inspection, one merely finds a dog happy to have a good petting and a woman who really just wants someone to listen to her so that she can ramble and talk about Jesus. (of course this is the same woman who vexes the local police with constant calls about mildly noisy parties and other non-threatening issues..such as my downstairs neighbors..)

There is the messy looking sweet middle aged white man who having lived his whole life in this neighborhood, has turned his courtyard into a beautiful garden with the tastiest tomatoes. (I can attest to their tastiness.)

There is the strong willed black mom with her incredibly shy college age daughter who dreams of becoming a vet as she works her way through one class at a time.

There are the corner boys who, having gotten over their shock of being singled out for a hi, now respond with a sly cheeky “Hey Baby..” I find it prudent to remind them that I am old enough to be their mother. (their very young attractive mother..) When I feel that a scary amount of these kids have gathered on the corner, I occasionally torment them by singing outrageously loud renditions of Shubert’s lieder or Gounod’s Faust from my balcony. I employ this technique to clear the street sparingly, as I suspect my other neighbors viciously hate me..  (I have also been known to get out the ukelele to sadistically butcher top 40s songs..the street clears of kids in seconds..) 

Today, in the wake of a successful weekend, I was disappointed to find myself feeling nervous and jittery. There seemed to be a tension of sorts building as many slightly intimidating looking kids spent the morning pacing up and down the street in front of my house, shouting into cell phones, all while our resident sketchy white van circled with its ear crushing bass vibrating the sidewalks. (not very subtle.) I immediately worried that something was on the verge of happening..a drug deal? another shooting? So, as any rational being would do, I calmly sat on my front step with a folder of music to look through.  Within a couple of minutes, a group of 6 mildly menacing looking guys walked by in their baggy dark clothes and matching dark expressions. I nodded my acknowledgment and smiled before turning my attention back to my music. As the guys continued on, one broke away and headed in my direction. This thin black man of about 20, bedecked in red and black with a black doo rag approached me and said with a smile “You’re not from around here, are you?” I replied that I was originally from a couple hours outside Chicago.  He  responded with..”I see you all over this neighborhood and every time I see you, you always have this smile.  What are you smiling about?” I told him that I smile because people occasionally smile back.  He shook his head in amused bewilderment, “Man, people just don’t do that ‘round here.”  He gave a friendly goodbye before heading on his way.  Unbeknownst to me, my husband had come home unexpectedly and was parking his car when he saw this guy walk my direction.  Apparently, his heart had started working double time..

A few minutes later some of the same guys walked by but with the addition of a couple of girls. One of the girls in particular, I had been hoping to run into as I had heard her a couple weeks ago walking past my house singing. What I heard was ridiculously good. I nodded to the group as a whole and upon spotting her, I got over myself and bluntly asked if she was the girl I had heard singing. This pretty girl in her late teens/early twenties with a lovely dimple and Rihanna styled haircut complete with shocking red highlights, shyly responded yes and as her friends wandered off we began chatting.  I told her that what little I had heard her sing sounded fantastic and asked if she was singing anywhere with anyone. She said no but admitted that she loved gospel. She asked if I was a singer (as my music was still on my lap) I admitted that I was the annoying neighborhood woman belting out classical music at whim and she laughed saying that she actually liked opera. After a couple minutes, we said a happy goodbye promising to watch out for each other. As she raced to catch up with her friends, (who were most likely Vice Lords..herself included)  I watched her with growing hope, fully knowing that she has the potential and the voice to make her way happily in the world. This lucky girl has a way out...if she so chooses...