On Friday, I walked over to the corner of Clark & Touhy to drop a Netflix envelope in the box and buy a bag of bagels. I had my camera with me (typically, if I'm just heading to the corner, I don't bring the camera with me), so I figured I'd document yet another example of urban decay; This fence was just erected less than a year ago, and already it's been mauled, mangled & mutilated ( Didn't the Kirby Stone Four have a hit with a song by that title?). Of course, I may be mistaken, and this is actually a work of modern art. Yes, let's move it to Daley Plaza...
As I was concentrating on my camera (the batteries were running out of power, and it kept shutting off), I heard someone say "excuse me" and next thing I know, there is an exceptionally scruffy fellow standing right up against me and pushing past. He stopped right next to me, bent over to the side (looking almost like a person frozen in the middle of rolling a bowling ball) and held a cigarette lighter at knee level. He proceeded to "Flick His Bic"; He sparked the flint four times, but produced no flame (Where's Roald Dahl when you need him?). He then proceeded to cross the street, where in the middle of the crosswalk, he again performed his odd maneuver. Watching him continue north, I saw that he repeated this peculiar ritual every two-dozen feet or so. Thankfully, he would also periodically pull his pants back up.
This reminds me of one of my old cartoons. CAPTAIN HOBO & BUM-BOY . The Cap'n and his scurvy side-kick worked out of a secret base hidden deep under the Boxcar Willie Theater in Branson. I of course use the phrase "worked out" rather tongue-in-cheek, for you see, "work" is the last thing the Cap'n had on his mind. I've "re-purposed" the drawing of the Dynamic No-Do for a bunch of things since I originally created it, using it for greeting cards and stuff.
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