Blue City Lights

Implanted by Chicago's finest, at first I thought them hideous and intrusive. You know the lights, right? They're posted high and blink and have the signature black and white checkered strip to let you know that you are being watched. Very Big Brother but now I love them.

A few years ago I got an email from my friend in Hinsdale telling me of how cool it was the other day to watch the sun set and see coyote gather around their kill as an owl perched nearby watched. This was all happening in her backyard.
I replied, "That's so cool, something similar happened in my backyard just yesterday. I saw a couple of crack heads in the alley gather around their new score and jitter about nervously as they waited their turn." She found that very funny. I guess it is but it happened all too often.

On the 4th of July I like to climb the fire escape and watch the neighborhood displays of fireworks. Two years ago I also got a show of a john with his prostitute in the front seat of his car. (Sure I called 311 but it was the 4th of July and the cops never showed.) When she finished her job she was given her prize and exited the car to partake. After inhaling and getting through her euphoria she did the strangest little dance, then got back in the car and they took off.

Another time I was leaving my garage to go to work when I noticed a man with his back against the garage wall across the alley from me. I was alarmed and about go back into my garage keep my gate shut when I noticed he wasn't alone. So fucking creeeeeeeepy. I shared eye contact with a twenty year old gang banger as he was getting head. Not cool. So not cool.

The apartment building at the end of my alley was a regular scene from HBO's "Wired." Regular games of dice took place on the sidewalk and frequent stops of cars made it apparent you could get all kinds of goodies from the guys hanging out in the parking lot. I'll give them this: that store was always open. I saw clients stopping in at all hours. I could always tell when there was a new salesman because he'd see my white face and think I was shopping. I'd resist the urge to give him the finger and instead avoided eye contact and drove on to my garage.

Then came the blinking blue lights. Suddenly my alley is so boring. I love the blinking blue lights.