The Journey Through Wealth, Part 1

Another day, another dollar, another walk with a silver collar....

We always start out in the dodgy part of the city, but we know the community. We all know it's the wrong side of the tracks--literally--but no one blames us for it, and we don't judge them.

We take our chance in the "better" neighborhood just across the rail yard. Nicer houses, nice roads, great police... and the city jail. You never know who you'll see there, but it never stops being surprising. One day last week, we saw a fella with a top hat so big, it looked like that was all he was! And the week before that, some bozo came bolting out of the building, almost kicking me with his broken down old boot, and jumped an annoyingly fast car. He was cackling like a loon: "I'm Free! Out of jail, free!" A tired-looking man at the door that had to be his lawyer shook his head dully and went back inside.

But when we turn the corner, we're in the pink, really powering on. Sometimes we stop at Penn Station before heading down into the city, past the community center, into the parking jungle--all concrete, no trees. Fry your feet in the summer, make you want to tuck tail and run when wind blows through the winter.

My favorite part of the day is on the other side of all that--open land, some corn fields, soy. It's like having chance to be visit a little pocket version of the Midwest. Pretty as all that is, though, what really sticks in my mind is the image of the railroad bridge and the ocean beyond, the little bay with a ubiquitous fisherman lazily whiling away his day there... Then the Waterhouse Corporation Center come into view as we top the rise, and it always spoils the moment.

On the bright side, the area does provide entertainment sometimes. The Waterhouse people are not kidding around--if you trespass on their property or anywhere near it, you WILL go to jail. Immediately. On your way to cash your paycheck for a couple hundred bucks and decided to take a shortcut across the Waterhouse Center Parking Facility? No pay for you! But you DO get a free night in the pleasant accommodations of the city jail!

It's an almost daily routine, but I still find myself just about pooped by the time we put Waterhouse behind us and get to the Salvation Army Community Relief building. There's some days it feels like we walked coast to coast.

Whenever we get the chance, we go right past the training center, it's short line of engineers waiting to get their Master certifications. I'm pretty sure it still thrills us both to see the streets widen, the houses sit back in relaxed security amongst the expensive lawns. But it's not as great as it used to be. All over the city, out seems like, new houses and hotels during up like mushrooms, cheapening whatever area they're in.

The day always becomes downright taxing at this point, and I just can't wait to get back down the hill and be home, where I can lay down on the sofa by the fireplace and doze a while. Home is home, no matter what neighborhood you're in, and aside from the quality of the paint, all the neighborhoods are really pretty much alike. I mean, after all, the fire hydrants on the boardwalk are the same here as they are here in The Baltics Housing Project, for Pete's sake! It's not like anyone has a monopoly on them!