It's A Small World After All

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.)

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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>

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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.