Our waitress
takes
us down
to tour the cellar
added after
they bought the
place.
They set it up
for
private parties now
at
Valentine’s Day.
President Bush (she
doesn’t clarify which)
celebrated his
birthday here once—she says
—and
in
the close space
I contemplate
the smallness
of powerful men.
Up
we walk—
up,
up
the staircase
to patrons
clinking glasses
and slicing
into crab encrusted
steak.
We imagine
the horses
out back, back in the
day,
as lovers
now sit
in the courtyard
sipping cabernet.
Higher,
we
roam
the upper level in
quiet,
look out onto the
street,
the
mist
of
history
hanging
in
the air.
Your voice
a half-whisper of
awe,
it must
have been so cool
working out
of a station like this.
We descend
to
the door,
to the sidewalk
and rain
greets us, pattering
about
like a welcome home.
© 2014 Jennifer
Wagner
Enjoyed
our trip to the Chicago area, where my husband was born, to visit family and to
celebrate our anniversary and birthdays.
 |
| Photo
© 2014 Jennifer Wagner |
(click link if you want to know more about this historic building)
 |
| Photo
© 2014 Jennifer Wagner |
