Yesterday, we travelled from
Berwyn to the North Side back to three places in the western suburbs in search
of flowers at a reasonable price and a reasonable wait. The place all the way north on Clark Street
in the city had two lines—one for flowers, the other for vegetables—each of
which snaked down Clark onto a side street.
No, thank you.
Then there was the place that was
selling hanging plants for $50; they go for $14-$25 at Home Depot, which was
place #4 we went to, after the Ace on 31st Street. You can save time by skipping one and two for
three and four.
My job come growing season is to
carry stuff around; install fences for Satan to jump over; water; and pull
weeds. The actual planting falls to
someone else. That work kept her busy
for most of the afternoon, so I suggested we get hot dogs from Lucky Dog. It was another line, but this one I put up
with.
I had the radio on, and what
should come on but “Panama” by Van Halen.
I always thought this would’ve been the perfect walkup song for the orcs
attacking Helm’s Deep in Lord of the Rings.
Between Eddie Van Halen’s guitar and David Lee Roth’s vocals, it’s
goodbye, Rohan. Somebody tell the
Tolkien estate to buy up the music rights.
As we inched along to the take-out
window, I was reminded of Clare’s walkup music at Elmhurst.
The first two years were god-awful country and western; how our little
Polish princess developed a taste for Nashville remains a mystery. Things changed junior year, when she went
nuts over MC Hamer’s “You Can’t Touch This.” That killed my choice of “It Don’t
Mean a Thing If It Ain’t Got That Swing” by Duke Ellington. Go with class, I always say.
But I could live with Hammer; I
mean, he certainly caught a moment, didn’t he?
The problem was what lyrics to use.
Clare initially wanted “You can’t touched this,” until I pointed out
that made more sense for a pitcher than a hitter. Then, she switched to the more appropriate “Hammer
time,” and the rest was history.
You can’t beat Chicago-style hot
dogs and good walk-up music on a Saturday in May. Hold the coronavirus.
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