Scuff Scuff Scuff

Their feet got wet. They walked through a soccer field that was threatening to turn prairie. Everything was. Wetness dropped to the ground off wilting leaves that couldn’t hold it. Hot wax on his face that she wiped off with her sleeve.

“Double rubber!?” She said, “I don’t even want to think about what that means!”
“What?”
“You heard what he was saying on his cell phone!”
“Who? What the hell are you talking about?”
“The CAB driver!”
“Oh. Oh yeah he was pretty weird huh?”
“Yeah. I think he ate some of our leftovers too.”

Scuff Scuff Scuff

She brought her hand into his pocket and squeezed his hand.

Thump Thump Thump

Jim kicked an old rotting newspaper towards an overflowing garbage can. Front page of the Chicago Sun-Times: “Rueben Studdard is your NEW American Idol!” It was getting dark.

She glanced over at him. He didn’t do eye contact. She looked back at her moist Converse all stars.

Scuff Scuff Scuff

Two blocks away, in Berwyn, Cicero, and on Chicago’s west side, concrete went 5 inches down and 5 stories up. And the Sun never set. And nobody ever slept. But here, the birds chirped, the grass grew, and the tricycles lay on lawns.

Scuff Scuff Scuff

The sky was pink. Cotton candy PINK. Jim reached over and ran his hand along her back. They interlocked fingers. She had cold little hands.

Thump Thump Thump

They walked into the darkest parts of the park.

Scuff Scuff Scuff

Her hand slipped out of his. “Madie! Where are you going?” A giggle. The clicking of the beads on her purse. Gloom where trees shadows disappeared into each other had never been explored by man. “Come find me!” she called over her shoulder, herghostly skirt waving in the wind.


It was dark. The moon was back. The sky was a sticky pink orange that became more blue and purple every minute. Rainbow sherbert. Two scoops. Let me get skittles and acid rain with that.

Jim parted the branches between two trees and called her name one more time. The sky melted onto everything, leaving puddles of orange, pink, and red that gave eyes and oily hair streaks of gold. Drops winked on the tips of grass.

The Sun was nearly gone from the sky now and Jim thought how the most beautiful colors emerge when something dies. Like a leaf, like a caterpillar, like a man falling 18 floors to the pavement. Like a body that sits and rots, turning yellow, purple, blue, red, and finally black. Like its trying to communicate something. Like a nebula, like “Where’s Madie?” Jim wondered.

Scuff Scuff Scuff

Then he thought, Berwyn Bob, a 300 pound hobo with dreadlocks and a pug nose hangs around this park sometimes. That’s weird. Berwyn Bob ended up here because his parents, or his parents-parents, departed the salty toenail of America for the interior plains. A bastard grandson of the industrial revolution, a descendant of the easily distracted, a demented man landlocked for centuries, now roamed these shit covered streets looking for their darks and dries.

Scuff Scuff Scuff

Jim sped up, tearing branches and tripping over bushes. He stumbled over an old tennis court that was tucked into the corner of a park. It lay against a house. Crab grass sprouted through the pavement. Madie sat up against the old duck taped net.

“Hey there” she said snottily with a laugh. Jim laughed and crouched down next to her on the cold wet ground. She was looking at the same suffering sky with the same stupid moon.

They sat a few moments in silence. A few planes passed overhead. A few dogs barked.

“Hey can I ask you something in a roundabout way?” Jim asked.
“Sure”
“If Pat hadn’t smashed that vodka bottle into that kids face that night at Ellie’s house, and if we all hadn’t had to leave, do you think I would have met you that night?”
“I don’t know. Probably. Why?”
“Well I was just thinking that I could have used you back then.”
“Oh used me huh?”
“No. I mean, not like that. I just wish I had met you sooner is all I’m saying.”
“I know what you mean Jim, I’m just messing with you.”

He put his arm around her shoulders so she cuddled into his chest. Jim felt like one of the last two people on earth.

The dog wouldn’t stop. Barking into the throbbing night.

“Jim,” she said “what are you thinking about?” He played it safe. “I’m just so happy to be with you.” Another pause. “I could stay here forever.” Silence.

Thump Thump Thump

He hoped he hadn’t been corny. Her white all stars shivered. “You’re sweet Jim.” she said and smiled, shutting her eyes and putting her head on his chest. Watching the bedroom lights down the streets flick off one by one, he thought, this world can be so beautiful and so lonely.