Dateline: Starbuck’s, March 28, 2009
The rain is slow but relentless as I sit in Starbuck’s window at 8:50 PM of a Saturday night. The kind of rain I used to enjoy in better days – not strong enough to be annoying, yet rhythmic enough to satisfy one that the seasons are rolling around in their proper order and all is right with the world…
There’s a surprising variety of folks sharing Starbuck’s with me. The usual WiFi users are of course here, pounding away at their laptops. A goodly selection of students are running group study sessions. Couples out on dates, heads close together. And one or two lone wolves, such as myself, round out the population.
I can’t help but wonder what brought the other loners out on a night like this. As for myself, it’s simple – I have no electric at home. Not a single one of my computers will run on candle power. Nor will my radio or TV. And though it may have worked for our 12th president, I’ve learned that trying to read by candle light hurts my eyes…
So, since it’s Saturday & the libraries all close at 5:00 on Saturday evenings, I come to Starbuck’s to nurse a single Latte and use their electric to edit photos, type letters, watch the occasional DVD. And work up the odd entry for my blog…
Tonight I’m editing photos. Specifically, one of the shots I took of Caity B & myself (with my camera’s timer) a week ago Wednesday. And I’m trying very hard not to dwell on the fact that Caity has moved on – or rather, moved back east.
An odder couple than Caity & myself you’re not likely to come across. I’m twice her age, and more times than not, haven’t got a clue who or what she’s talking about when she starts going on about the latest band she & the Sound Faction crew have interviewed. Caity has a Mohawk, currently died dark blue, and a veritable plethora of tattoos as well as a selection of piercings.
I on the other hand, wear my hair in a very conservative style, consonant with my age, if not my demeanor. My musical tastes run more towards classic Rock & R&B than today’s Indie bands that Caity finds so intriguing. And I most definitely have neither tattoo nor piercing to my name, and have no plans to acquire any…
Caity and I are both photographers. We met at a Meet N Greet more than a year ago at Portillo’s in Schaumburg. Since then we’ve shared our lives with one another via emails, phone calls, over drinks & dinner. I’m not quite sure how or when it happened – I must have been distracted by something at the time – Caity moved into my heart & set up housekeeping there…
She managed this so subtly that I only came to realize it myself when her life came tumbling down around her, forcing her to pack up & move back east…
That particular Monday afternoon, when Caity called me, there were tears in her voice. She’d had “the absolute worst day of my life, and I need you to come have drinks with me, Hal.” As it happens, my part-time job is less than two miles from her apartment, so I told her I’d be along as soon as I punched out. An hour later I learned:
1) At 9:30 her employer informed her that her services would not be needed after Friday – they were bankrupt & closing the doors;
2) Shortly thereafter she received a call from a friend back east suggesting she call her brother. She did - her mother had been diagnosed with lung cancer;
3) She’d made plans to share a South Loop apartment with two friends from Canada, but at 4:30 they called to tell her their work visas had been denied. Of course the deadline for renewing her current lease had already passed…;
4) And to round her entire day off, when she got home her SO of five years had decided it was time to move on – too bad, so sad, bye-bye...
Caity made the decision to move on. She no longer had a job, an apartment or a lover here in Chicago. Nothing, in other words, to keep her from being with her mother during her treatment. All in all, a well reasoned and intelligent, not to mention logical, decision on Caity’s part. I was devastated…
I hadn’t realized just how much this young lady had come to mean to me. We got together Wednesday afternoon and spent a couple hours in the park by her home. Caity brought Lilly (the 1st guitar she & her father refinished together), chocolate chip cookies and a six pack of 7-Up. I brought my camera, flash & tripod.
While Caity serenaded me I took pictures of her playing & singing. Then I set the timer and took a couple shots of us together. We sat and talked and discussed her plans to leave town. Finally it got too cold for either of us to continue sitting there, so we packed up our belongings & I walked her back to her door.
Anyway, those are the pictures I’ve been working on this evening. Caity picked up her rental car yesterday at noon, came home & loaded up her belongings, and then called me to say goodbye. I wished her a safe trip back home and made her promise to let me know when she gets there and where “there” is…
I was at work when Caity called me yesterday. I couldn’t speak for long. Probably just as well, all things considered. There’s very little more off-putting than a 50 year old fat man blubbering into a cell phone while on the clock at an Elementary School…
Looking out the windows I’m grateful for the rain. It’ll give me an excuse to keep my head down when I leave, and if by chance anyone does get a glimpse of my face, the raindrops will hide my tears…
