In honor of Disney's "It's A Small World" celebrating it's 50th birthday later in April, I thought I would tell a "small world" story that recently happened to me. (Yes, that is a picture of the Small World Ride at Disneyland that I took when we went there 2 Thanksgivings ago, thanks for noticing.)
A couple weeks back now, after a 6" snow, I drove The Daughter to school, because I'm a nice dad. So, instead of my normal "school year" routine of riding the CTA bus with The Daughter, and then continuing on to the L to go to work, Cora and I followed our "summer" routine, where I walk to a different L line through our nice, quiet neighborhood.
As we were walking through the still falling fresh powder, Cora spotted a set of keys mostly buried in the snow. I had a sneaky suspicion that these keys might belong to a police officer. Or maybe the spouse of a cop. Maybe it was the 3 different key tags and whatnots with "Chicago Police" written on them. I'm not sure.
Not knowing what to do, we hung them on a tree branch, beside the sidewalk where we found them. Surely someone would retrace their steps and come back looking for them, right?
Wrong.
A week later, they were still hanging there.
So, we did what we were supposed to do, and took them to a local police station.
And that's where the world got small. Real small.
And here is roughly the conversation I had with the officer behind the counter. (Names have been slightly altered. I'm not sure why.)
Scope: I found these keys in the snow about a week ago on North Cardwell. Obviously, they belong to a police officer.
Cop (Turning to the two officers behind him): Hey, doesn't Sweetin live on Cardwell? Isn't he with the FBI now?
Scope: Yes, that he lived by WGN. This was further north. And I think he moved a while back. (And thinking "He's with the Secret Service").
Cop: Maybe their his old man's. He was a sergeant. (One of the tags was for a "sergeant")
Scope: Doubt it. Rod lives over on Melvin.
<End Scene>
So, to recap:
- I walk into a random police station.
- They mention the last name of a guy who hasn't been on the force in 10 years.
- I know who they are talking about.
- They mention his dad.
- I know him, too.
- "It's A Small World" turns 50 on April 22nd, but will be celebrated on April 10th to avoid conflict with "Earth Day".
Now, this is the City of Chicago, not a suburb or something. I've only lived in the city since 99, and only been in this neighborhood for 5 years. My roots aren't that deep. But I walk into a police station, and they mention the brother and father of someone who I've known since '83? (Referred to as "The Blonde" in earlier blog stories.)
It is a small world, after all.
2 comments:
It may be a big city, but it definitely offers up a lot of small town moments.
That is a cool story!
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