Change

I spend a lot of time at the Harold Washington library downtown. There are always a lot of homeless people around the library. There are two missions down the street, there are a lot of people in the area, but more importantly, the homeless people use the library. There are always clean, hassle free bathrooms. It is air conditioned and heated. And a lot of times people just get a book, sit down at the table, and either read it, look at the pictures, or fall asleep with it in front of them in the hopes that it doesn't look like they are loitering. There is usually a group of three homeless people who have something of a book club, they get into passionate arguments and are very intelligent. They are called "the professors" by the people like me who are always at the library.

On the way to the library a lot of people asked me for change. One guy just kept repeating change, change change in a way that made me forget about money; the way he was looking at me, it was as if he was looking through me and telling me to change.

Cause I know that I need to change.

I had a great time at the library, walked up state street to Borders, bought the second season of the wire, the only one I do not own, and felt great about that. Thought about lunch. There was a homeless women right outside the door who I ignored.

As I was walking to the blue line station at the Thompson center I saw a cop laughing with a maintenance guy on the sidewalk. When I became even with the alley I saw a lot more cops and a shrouded body.

This is the third body that I have seen in my life, and the second in Chicago. The first was a murdered man in Tijuana Mexico who was missing the top head of his head, uncovered and right in front of me.

There is a chance that this was an investment banker who was sensationally killed by his girlfriend, boyfriend, wife, brother and it will be on Fox News and CNN and will be a heartbreaking human interest story.

But it probably was a homeless person.