When Paula and Tami Went to Chicago in a Stolen Car Part Three

When Barry finally woke up from his nap, we continued on to Chicago. Once we got into town, we went straight to Barry's friend Tom's "apartment".

The building Tom lived in was on the east side of the Chicago loop, right underneath the El. The El is the public transportation train system, and in many places the tracks elevate over the buildings to save ground space. And when I say Tom's "apartment" was right underneath the El, I mean literally. You never felt a structure shake until you've spent a few days under the El, plus, you could see it up close and personal right out the window.

Let's talk about Tom's "apartment". I know efficiency apartments are common, but his bathroom was down the hall, shared with all the apartments on that floor. We're talking old school city dwelling. This is all well for a single guy, but when you stuffed four more people plus two UNICEF babies into it, it became pure comedy. Put the same people in it for three or four days, and it becomes a refugee camp. It was insane.

The inside of his "apartment" was one room, about the size of the foyer in my house, so you wouldn't really describe the layout in terms of area's as much as corners. He had his twin bed in the right corner and his kitchenette in the left corner. There was a small wooden table in the middle with a few chairs. The entire room was covered in what I guess would have been kitchen carpeting. I know this because the pattern on the carpet was the names of different foods, and we slept on that floor, and were tortured by it when we were hungry. We would wake up with the words "EGGS" and "BACON" being the first things we saw in the morning, and the words "CHOCLATE CAKE" and "PUDDING" being the last things was saw at night. Damn that carpeting to HELL! I curse it to this day.

Tom turned out to be a beautiful man, especially on the inside. He actually let us stay there. I can't remember his last name, but I wish I did, because I would absolutely find him. The one sane place in this story was Tom. In the end, you'll see how he in particular probably saved my life. This guy was a SAINT and I can't imagine why he would ever take the six of us in.

The part of the city Tom lived in would remind you of Over-the-Rhine in Cincinnati. I've actually lived in Over-the-Rhine, right at the Mohawk Honor Roll, for several years, in a really beautiful apartment, so I'm not dissing it. Tom's part of Chicago was the epitome of true city living. Even though it had a lot of low income housing, there was also a lot of stores and commerce. If you took a left and walked straight for 15 minutes, you would be on Lake Shore Drive, and the strange sands of Lake Michigan.

Me and Tami must truly be some urban Jews, because we absolutely loved it. We weren't afraid in the least, although we wished we had more money. I had spent a lot of my life in Chicago, so it wasn't completely unfamiliar and I knew my way around. Tami, on the other hand, is always comfortable on a road trip regardless of where it's to, and she is a world traveler to this day.

So, there we were, happily ensconced in Tom's "apartment", and creepy Lincoln looking Barry says he needs to run an errand, and leaves in the car. The errand took him three days, while we were left stranded at poor Tom's place with Barb and the UNICEF babies, with no idea where Barry was, dead or alive. TO BE CONTINUED