By Dan Glaubke
As I hit the swinging doors, the sounds of tumbling pins, noisy racks, and granite balls coasting over slick varnished lanes vanished behind me. The sidewalk was still warm from baking in the hot summer heat, but the evening air was cool and I felt like walking. Heading south, down Cicero Avenue,I passed the BelPark picture show and the heavy scent of buttered popcorn came wafting out into the street … carried by the icy conditioned atmosphere of the double feature emporium. I was tempted. But I passed on the popcorn and continued up the street.
The light turned green as I approached Belmont Avenue and a streetcar started to roll across the intersection. The steel on steel, of its wheels over the track rails, created a bitter squealing reverberation as it passed by. Then the clang, clang, clang of the red trolley’s bell erupted as a car crossed its path after running a red light.
I waited for the light to change, once again, and crossed Belmont. I passed by the idle corner bank that had closed its doors years ago, after the crash of 1929, and walked into the Gossage Grill, next door. The mouth watering smell of grilling hamburger, and onions, compelled me to stop and drop a quarter on the counter for one of the delicious sliders they create night and day.
With the warm hamburger in my hands, I continued south, down Cicero. I Munched on the burger as I passed the used car lots, 5 & 10, Anderson’s grocery store, Sam the tailor and the Wellington Drug Store. Old Tony Gianinni, was closing up his curb side newspaper stand as I passed by. The tin of the stand was a rusty red after enduring years of rain, sleet, and the boiling sun, but it covered and protected the news of days and the glossy magazines that enabled Old Tony to put food on table and clothes on the backs of his family.
He smiled a, “Hi, Danny” at me and asked how my Grandpa was doing.
Almost home, I counted the change in my pocket. Setting pins at three cents a line, I had made one dollar and eight cents. Blew a quarter on a hamburger, so I still had eighty-three cents. Not a bad day for a twelve year old.
