The Windy City: Watch your step

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-8:14

The next morning, as a reward, I got myself a good breakfast. On the road I stay at economy motels and eat their industrial scrambled eggs, but in Chicago I found a diner on North Wells called Nookies. In Minnesota, they wouldn’t dare use that name, women would file a class-action lawsuit but I’ll bet the name comes from an old owner with an unpronounceable Slavic name like Gnukieczewicz whom his pals knew as Nookie and the place is near the Moody Bible Institute and the old Baptist Bible scholars enjoyed saying, “Let’s go to Nookies” and anyway the breakfasts are phenomenal. Mine was two eggs over medium in a bowl of chopped red potatoes and onions with chunks of bacon and it made me think I need to spend more time in Chicago. This is a town with a spirit of its own. Chicagoans don’t go in for attitude, they want to get the lowdown, the inside scoop. Nookies. Remember that. Biggest breakfast menu in town, cooked to order, and afterward you’re ready to take on the world.

So I paid up and went out the door into a steady drizzle and somehow I misjudged a step down and fell and came crashing down on the sidewalk. I lay for a moment. Hadn’t hit my head. Landed on my right hip. Thank God I didn’t land on my left shoulder, the one I busted months ago. And then a big guy bent down and said, “You okay?” And another big guy. “Need help getting up?” I did. Two strong arms took my upraised arms and pulled me to my feet. “You okay?” I said yes and I thanked them in a grammatical sentence for their kindness and said, “God bless you. I’ll remember you two.”