MOST ASSUREDLY, THERE IS A STORY THAT LAUNCHED THE VIBRATIONS THAT CONCLUDED THIR FIRST 4 HOURS WORK AS AN ANGEL OF THE LORD GOD ALMIGHTY IS THAT NOW I CAN SEE GOD'S HAND AS IT COMES TO PASS THAT THEIRS IS THE GOD OF LOVE (AND TEH GOD OF HATE).
THIS MUCH I REALIZED RATHER EARLY ON, LIKE 6 HOURS INTO THE EPIC TIME PERIOD:
TO SEE THE HAND OF GOD WORKING IN ONE'S LIFE
IS SURELY UNREMARKABLE -- WE MUST MERELY BE IMBUED
WITH THAT CERTITUDE OF FAITH WHICH RESONATES
AND DRIVES ALL CHILDREN TO KNOW THAT GOD
GUARDS AND GUIDES US IS SOMETHING -- SURELY
NEVER TO BE TAKEN FOR GRANTED -- BUT TO ALWAYS
ASSUREDLY BE AWARE OF AND WILLING TO ACKNOWLEDGE.
THIS IS KNOWN AS TESTIMONY - TO TESTIFY.
BUT TO SEE GOD'S HAND GUIDING YOUR FEET
TO DO GOD'S WORK IN THE LIVES OF OTHER
BROTHERS AND SISTERS - THIS SURELY RATES
AS REMARKABLE. IN SUCH MOMENTS OF
ASTUTE, ATOMIC CLARITY WE ARE FULLY ATTUNED
TO GOD'S WILL, AND HIS CALLING - OUR CALLING-
AT, BY, AND TO THE UNIVERSE.
THIS IS DELIGHTFUL, BEYOND WORDS.
AS I WALKED INTO THE ALL-NIGHT MACDONALD'S BETWEEN OHIO AND ONTARIO, A HOMELESS MAN PLAINTIVELY ASKED ME: SIR, I'M HOMELESS. DO YOU HAVE SOMETHING FOR ME TO EAT?
NO, I HAD TO TELL HIM, AS I WENT INSIDE TO WAIT FOR MARLA, WHOM I HAVE NOT SEEN NOW IN NINE DAYS, BUT, INSTEAD, MET JILL. A FEW HOURS OF WAITING FOR MARLA LED ME TO CONCLUDE THAT I OUGHT TO RETURN TO THE CITIZEN BAR TO SEE IF DANIELA FIELDS WAS WORKING (SHE WASN'T). AS I WAS ALMOST AT CITIZENS, I SPIED ON A GARBAGE CAN A FULL PACKAGE OF BAGELS, WHICH I PICKED UP AND PUT INTO MY CARRYING BAG.
INSIDE, WHEN I LEARNED THAT TODAY WAS THURSDAY (AS OPPOSED TO THE WEDNESDAY I THOUGHT IT WAS - WHO KNOWS WHERE THE TIME GOES? - I WRESTLED WITH RETURNING TO MACDONALDS (WHICH I ULTIMATELY DID) OR RIDING BACK TO BARRINGTON. I WENT WITH MACDONALDS, HAVING WIPED COMPLETELY FROM MY MIND THE HOMELESS, HUNGRESS MAN AT HEAVEN'S DOOR.
"HOT EFFING DAMN, YOU CAN BE A CHRISTIAN!"
SO I TOOK HIM THE BAGELS AND HE TOOK ONLY FOUR HALVES. HE WON'T BE HUNGER TODAY NOR TONIGHT!
NEXT MORNING, I RUN INTO BRADLEY ARNOLD - THE SON I ALWAYS WANTED TO HAVE, WHO CAME TO CHICAGO FROM MICHGAN, SEEKING EMPLOYEMENT AND MANAGED TO GET HIS POCKET PICKED INSTEAD. TOTALLY BROKE, THE TWO OF US IMMEDIATELY BONDED. WE WENT TO VISIT BOB ARBAUGH WHO WAS KIND ENOUGH TO LOAN ME $10 FOR PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION.
TRAVELING HAD BECOME A LOT EASIER. WE TOOK THE 'L' INTO WILMETTE, EXITING AT THE END OF THE LINE AT LINDEN AVENUE. THEN WE TOOK THE 423 PACE BUS AND EXITED TO SUNSET RIDGE BLVD, FROM WHERE WE WALKED TO THE CADDIE HOUSE AT THE RIDGE.
GOLF OPERATIONS DIRECTOR GREG KUNKEL WAS THERE, AND A HALF-FORCE OF THE RIDGE'S FINEST CADDIES HAD BRAVED THE COLD (OR WERE TOO SIMPLE-MINDED TO DO ANY OTHER THAN PUT IT ON AUTOMATIC CO-PILOT) 5O HANG OUT WITH OUR UNCA KUNKA.
BROKE UPON ENTERING THE DOOR (EXCEPT FOR $6.75 CREDIT FOR PACE SYSTEM), WE LEFT THE RIDGE WITH $19.15 CASH, A BAG FULL OF DONUT HOLES (COURTESY OF MY BUDDY, JORDAN GAFFNEY, WHOM I WILL BE ENDORSING FOR THE OFFICE OF PRESIDENT OF THE U.S.A.), WE WERE NOT IN GOOD SHAPE. GREG HAD PAID RAFAEL $10 TO DRIVE US TO THE GLENVIEW TRANSPORTATION CENTER, FROM WHERE WE WOULD HAVE TAKEN A BUS TO DESPLAINES AND THEN TRAIN TO BARRINGTON. BUT I KNEW THAT RAFAEL LIVED IN WHEELING, SO I ASKED HIM TO DROP US OFF AT THE WHEELING TRANSPORTATION CENTER, WHICH HE GLADLY DID.
THERE, WE DISCOVERED THE APPARENT ERROR OF MY WAYS (TO SAVE TWO BUCKS ON UNION PACIFIC TRAIN FARE, I HAD ADDED 15 HOURS AND $9.O0 TO THE PRICE OF OUR RETURN TICKET(S) TO BARRINGTON, IL.
WHILE I WAS LOOKING AROUND THE WHEELING PUBLIC TRANSPORTATION GROUNDS FOR BUS INFORMATION, BRADLEY OBSERVED THE LOVELIEST FEMALE I HAVE EVER STOOD CLOSE TO ENTERING THE TRAIN PLATFORM. "I BETTER SHOW HER THAT I AM A GENTLEMAN," THOUGHT THE STUD-MUFFIN, FORMER STRIPPER, WHO SPENT TWO YEARS IN THE JACKSON STATE OF MICHIGAN PENITIENTURY SYSTEM, FROM AGES 17-19, FOR HITTING A COP, WHO HAD SAID SOMETHING NICE ABOUT HIS MOTHER, WHO HAD LOST CUSTODY OF HIM AT HIS RIPE OLD AGE OF 4-YEARS OLD, CAUSING HIM TO BE RAISED IN A METH LAB.
THE MAGNETIC ATTRACTION BETWEEN THE TWO OF THEM WAS PALATABLE - THEY TALKED, I INTERJECTED, THEY STOPPED TO LISTEN TO ME, AND WE HAD THE LOVELIEWST OF TIMES I'VE EVER HAD AS A THIRD WHEEL.
THE TWO MEXICANS CORRECTLY TOLD SARA SHE COULD NOT GET TO CHICAGO FROM THE WHEELING TRAIN STATION. BUT BRADLEY KNEW THAT I KNEW THAT ULTIMATELY WE COULD GET TO CHICAGO FROM THERE - TAKING A TRAIN FIRST NORTH, THE PRAIRIE CROSSING OUTSIDE LIBERTYVILLE, AND THEN A TRAIN BACK INTO UNION STATION (FOREST GLEN FOR THE PART OF MY NEW FOUND SON WHO NEEDS ME AND MYSELF).
SO, WE WERE BOTH ANGELS OF THE LORD FOR SARA. (CHECK TWO).
WE BARELY HAD ENOUGH MONEY TO GET US BACK INTO CHICAGO, NOW FARTHER AWAY FROM BARRINGTON THAN AT ANY OTHER POINT ON THE JOURNEY. BRADLEY AND I WLAKED FROM FORREST GLEN TO JEFFERSON PARK WHERE WE TOOK THE 'L' INTO O'HARE, THEN RODE A COMPLEMENTARY COACH TO THE ELK GROVE VILLAGE COMFORT INN, FROM WHERE WE WALKED TO THE ITASCA TRAIN STATION FROM WHERE I CALLED TOM SUCHER WHO CAME AND PICKED US UP AND TOOK US BACK H OME TO BARRINGTON.
ON THE PHONE CALL ALERTING MY FOLKS, I ASKED BUT ONE THING FROM MY MOTHER - HAVE HOT COFFEE READY FOR WHEN WE GET THERE.
THIS, THE BALL-BUSTING STUPID BITCH,L OF COURSE, DID NOT DO. SO TYPICAL.
ALTHOUGH, SHE DID GIVE BRADLEY $58.50 TO GET HIM A TICKET BACK TO CHICAGO AND THEN TO DETROIT SO THAT SHE COULD BE RID OF HIM.
SHE TOLD ME NEVER TO BRING ANY ONE HOME AGAIN - I WAS FURIOUS - SHE COULDN'T HAVE TOLD ME THIS BEFORE? FUCKIN BALL BITER KEEPS CHANGING THE FUDCKING RULES, MOVING THE GOAL POSTS.
WELL BITCH, I WILL EMBARRASS YOUR ASS ALL TO HELL AND DOCUMENT ALL OF YOUR SILLY, FOOLISH, INEPT WAYS. AND THEY INDEED ARE LEGION.
I GAVE BRADLEY THE SWEAT ANTS I WAS WEARING (A GIFT FROM MY FATHER - WHOM THEY DID NOT FIT - TOO LARGE -- TO ME, WHOM THEY DID NOT FIT - TOO SMALL. ALSO GAVE BRADLEY A BRIEF CASE - VERY NICE, VERY STURDY, IN WHICH I LOCATED ...
THE MANUSCRIPT OF THE BOOK ADAM JAMES AND I HAD CO-AUTHORED, COMP[LETE WITH PHOTOS AND DRAWINGS AND WHITE SPACE FOR FUTURE PHOTO'S OR DRAWINGS.
HOT FUCKING DAMN! HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR THAT MOTHER-FUCKER (OTHERWISE AFFECTIONATELY KNOWN AS "father", FOR FIVE YEARS!
PRAISE YOU JESUS, THANK YOU LORD - I HAD BEEN SO MUCH OF BRADLEY'S ANGEL THAT I DID NOT EVEN NOTICE THAT HE TOO HAD BEEN MINE - AND THAT HAD I NOT MADE THE INCREDIBLE LOOKING AND EXPENSIVE MISSTPE OF GOING TO WHEELING RATHER THAN GLENVIEW --
NONE OF THIS REDEMPTIVE STORY WOULD HAVE HAPPENED!
PRAISE YOU, LORD!
THANK YOU JESUS,
LET THE POEPLE OF GOD ROAR: "GOD IS LOVE."
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