Chapter 10 — December on Chicago Chronicles

The Pickup — Thursday, 6 December 1990, 4:25 PM

Thu, 06 Dec 1990 16:25:00 +0000

Kiefer’s Shore Bar / Fifth Avenue Studio / Kendrick’s Auto / East Side / Seventeenth Street Gary, Indiana

She woke and the hunger was already dressed and waiting by the door.

Ten out of fourteen. A number that should mean comfort but didn’t, because Sable had learned to count blood the way a landlord counts days until the first – not from abundance but from the distance to the next bill. Coop tonight. One point. DeShawn and Pete already fed. Spoon maintained by the Entrancement that was cheaper than blood and more fragile. The math of bodies sustained by a body that sustained nothing on its own.

The Rounds — Wednesday, 5 December 1990, 4:25 PM

Wed, 05 Dec 1990 16:25:00 +0000

Kendrick’s Auto / West Side / The Torch / Seventeenth Street Gary, Indiana

She woke hungry. Not the word for it. The word for it hadn’t been invented yet, because the people who invent words have never spent seven days with their blood pool at a number that makes the walls seem thinner, the cinderblock seem warmer, the propane heater’s dead click seem louder than it has any right to be.

The Spur — Tuesday, 4 December 1990, 4:25 PM

Tue, 04 Dec 1990 16:25:00 +0000

West-Side Haven / Hennessey’s / Rail Spur South / West-Side Haven Gary, Indiana

The apartment was twenty-two degrees when he opened his eyes. Frost on the inside of the kitchen window, fern patterns that looked deliberate and weren’t. The radiator clicked three times and stopped.

He sat on the edge of the mattress with his feet on cold linoleum and his hands on his knees and ran the inventory. Blood at functional. Body intact. Mind clear. Three meetings tonight and none of them forgiving.

The Shore Bar — Monday, 3 December 1990, 4:25 PM

Mon, 03 Dec 1990 16:25:00 +0000

Lakeshore Drive / Kiefer’s Bar / Norfolk Southern Rail Spur / Industrial Corridor / Ray’s Apartment Gary, Indiana

The Cutlass ran cold for the first three miles. December in Gary meant the heater was a promise the engine broke every morning and kept every night, twenty minutes late. By the time warm air pushed through the vents Darius was on Lakeshore Drive heading east with the mills behind him putting their orange signature on the cloud ceiling and the hunger sitting behind his teeth like a second tongue.

The Diagnostic — Sunday, 2 December 1990, 4:25 PM

Sun, 02 Dec 1990 16:25:00 +0000

Broadway / Torch Alley / Adams Street / Ore Smelter / Modius’s Mansion Gary, Indiana

The Cutlass ran cold for three blocks. December in Gary meant the heater was a promise the engine broke every morning and kept every night, twenty minutes late, and by the time the vents pushed warm air Darius was already on Broadway heading south with the mills putting their orange signature on the cloud ceiling and the strip half-dead on a Sunday.