Walking the city of Chicago, you meet a lot of interesting folks. When you spend 7 hours a day wondering the city for half a decade, however, you become FRIENDS with a lot of interesting folks. This woman went by “A”. I met her as a photographer but knew her as a fellow heroin addict. She hung out around Union Station. She either believed she was god satan or Gabriel. She spoke often of her 2s and 7s, the thing in life she wish she’d laid down and played dead for. Life goes on, walked or stumbled. She taught me to fight for happiness but there is no glory in going out swinging when you never had a chance. I don’t think she was right, but I saw her point of view. This is someone who’d lost her mind fighting a situation that could have been avoided. Her insanity protected her from the realities she had created trying to beat a house that always wins. Later, she called me from an institution, said she’d found hope. We talked for a few weeks over the phone, and then she disappeared.
