Ah...Chicago in the sweltering summertime. I put in my window a/c two days ago and I forgot how quiet that makes the apartment. Muffles the street noise. I like that effect, but it also makes me feel a bit cut off from what's going on outside.
Yesterday I was walking to the market and I passed some kids playing in an open fire hydrant on Paulina - they were having a great time. One of them was controlling the spray and he looked at me kind of questioningly and I laughed and said "Do it!" and he sprayed me - it was great. A woman came out of one of the new condos on that corner and called after me, so I went back. She asked me if I thought she should call the police on the kids and I just looked at her and said "Why would you do that?", to which she had no response. As I walked past the kids again one of them said "Is that lady mad at us?" and I said "Just ignore her" but one of the older kids looked over at her and yelled out "Hi, neighbor -- we're neighbors, you know" which was just perfect somehow. Of course she just turned and went back into her little upscale hive without a wave or a word.
Gentrification sucks.