The Neighborhood

This morning I was reading The Sun out on the stoop. Everett was out with Bodhi talking to Linda who was out with Pooch. Pooch kept trying to kill Bodhi but Bodhi is all about the love. I was reading the cover story in the Sun, which was about dogfighting in Baltimore. Just then a teenager walked past with his fierce pit on a rope leash. Pooch lunged at the pit who wagged her tail in response. I've been seeing many scarred and tough-looking pits strutted around the Park and along Whitelock Ave of late, as if in support of Michael Vick.

Linda has cancer, and after her overnight shift at Target she goes for chemo. Her son is getting married on Martha's Vineyard at the end of September, after which Linda will go in for surgery. We're going to be watching Pooch again during the wedding. I hope she's ok. She lives alone and works nights and it's hard to keep your spirits up under those circumstances.

Tonight I was out on the stoop when our other neighbor Ben came home. He owns an awesome salvage shop called Housewerks, and we bought* a cool pew from an old church in Mount Vernon which was converted to condos from him. The pew has tiles on each end, made by a famous tile maker in the middle nineteenth century. We're going to have a pew in the living room. Ben said he would bring the pew home for us as soon as his truck is back from the shop. Somebody tried to steal his truck when it was parked in front of our house a couple weeks ago, and they fucked up his steering column and his transmission but were unable to drive the truck away. I had no idea this had even happened until tonight. A couple weeks ago Linda called because her younger son was staying over at her place and he'd locked himself out of her house. It was around 1am and she told us he was sitting on her stoop. I went out and got him because it isn't safe to sit on the stoop at 1am. When I opened the door there were sketchy looking junky types looking underneath the cars on Madison and shining flashlights in the windows. As soon as I opened the door they fled. Linda's son was terrified. I wonder if these same scumbags are the ones who fucked up Ben's truck?

Tomorrow is my first day at Booker T. with students. I get to leave after second period to go take a piss-test and get a physical at Mercy Hospital. Then it's back to Notre Dame for more Reading Acquisition.

*More accurately, Julio and Yo! Adrienne bought us this pew with their kind housewarming GC. Muchas gracias!