I am writing from safe quarters in the Schultz Hall, a bar on Broadway
in Muskegon Heights. One will never find a good pinot noir at Shultz
Hall, but one could achieve a perfect inebriation with an investment
under twenty dollars. Spare the twenty dollar bill; it probably
requires a saw buck. Blue plate specials are offered nightly and many
bachelor workmen take their supper here. I had a hot roast beef
sandwich one night, and the gravy, beans and beef struck me as truly
homemade. It's not a compliment. I had an appointment in downtown Muskegon Heights and I visited
businesses along Broadway for a half hour beforehand. I roamed through
a party store that sold incense, shirts, videos, popcorn, booze, beer
and wine. This one didn't even stock eggs, cheese and milk, making it
fairly hard core for a ghetto gouge store. I passed a number of empty
storefronts, a defunct taqueria, a defunct soul food diner before I
encountered a cellphone store purveying Boost Mobile and MetroPCS
handsets. A bright young man and his woman manned the counter,
purveying all kinds of compact disc albums, rythym & blues, plus used
jukebox and album vinyl. He was repairing a laptop before I came in
the door. I dropped into Buttercup Popcorn Shop, and the door detector went bing
bong, but no one popped up at the counter. I could hear no one working
in the popcorn popping and seasoning kitchen in the back. Two people
were standing and smoking before doors of the Rent First, but they
weren't employees. Inside, an ordinary computer rented for 140 dollars
a month, a Whirlpool washer dryer set for under 100 dollars. At corner stands Cohn's furniture, which has purveyed discount
furniture at Peck & Broadway for forty years. Cohn's has a trophy case
with four shelves of cast bronze statuettes from the National Rifle
Association. The NRA awards these to big donors to their programs. I'm
wondering if Cohn's has difficulties with robberies. Sang Sportswear
across street once was held up during a robbery commenced minutes
earlier. Police nabbed both perpetrators. After my appointment, I commenced to walk west on Broadway and dark
descended as fast as a curtain. I couldn't walk on the unshoveled
sidewalk, so as everyone must in Muskegon Heights, I walked in street
facing oncoming traffic. Winters, one or two pedestrians or bicycle
riding blighters are taken out by drunk hit &l run drivers. At Fifth &
Broadway, a young woman in a parka asked me for a cigarette. One could
only see her face under the hood, a young face. She chuckled as I
said, "no" and marched on past. A line of cars stood along the curb at
Bea & Arthurs, another C store, but one with dairy and eggs,
ingredients for an omlette. One imagines a time when Bea & Arthurs
served ice cream cones that families enjoyed under the hundred year
oak that hasn't fallen on the store. A woman with a parka said hello
to me as I came out of the store, and stepped into the dark on the
west face of the store. This side holds the last fuctioning pay phone
in the world, and I've noticed some pretty tony people touching those
touch tone keys before. You don't want to make those calls on your
personal phone. Strangely enough, the woman who stepped into the dark
had a lovely voice, as if she had sung in choir. I stepped off into my
own dark, heading west again on Broadway, saying nothing. A single
sentence can be construed as solicitation. So could giving the wrong
woman in the wrong place a cigarette. Two years ago, I was talking with a man at Jimmy's Lounge in Montague,
Michigan and we talked over the cheap beer available there. He was
some guy I had talked to before and he seemed alright. After burning
out of a high stakes security director job in Las Vegas, he had come
to earth as a programmer in Shelby, making no more than fifteen
dollars an hour. We got to guy talking and out of the blue he bragged
how he loved to cruise Broadway street in his Jeep Cherokee, looking
for a girl with a tongue stud. It only took an hour's pay. I was
rather glad I didn't put this guy's name in for a job where I work the
week before. I didn't finish my beer. I think it's time for the Blue Plate special at the Shultz Hall, then
a call to Port City Cab to bring me safely home.
in Muskegon Heights. One will never find a good pinot noir at Shultz
Hall, but one could achieve a perfect inebriation with an investment
under twenty dollars. Spare the twenty dollar bill; it probably
requires a saw buck. Blue plate specials are offered nightly and many
bachelor workmen take their supper here. I had a hot roast beef
sandwich one night, and the gravy, beans and beef struck me as truly
homemade. It's not a compliment. I had an appointment in downtown Muskegon Heights and I visited
businesses along Broadway for a half hour beforehand. I roamed through
a party store that sold incense, shirts, videos, popcorn, booze, beer
and wine. This one didn't even stock eggs, cheese and milk, making it
fairly hard core for a ghetto gouge store. I passed a number of empty
storefronts, a defunct taqueria, a defunct soul food diner before I
encountered a cellphone store purveying Boost Mobile and MetroPCS
handsets. A bright young man and his woman manned the counter,
purveying all kinds of compact disc albums, rythym & blues, plus used
jukebox and album vinyl. He was repairing a laptop before I came in
the door. I dropped into Buttercup Popcorn Shop, and the door detector went bing
bong, but no one popped up at the counter. I could hear no one working
in the popcorn popping and seasoning kitchen in the back. Two people
were standing and smoking before doors of the Rent First, but they
weren't employees. Inside, an ordinary computer rented for 140 dollars
a month, a Whirlpool washer dryer set for under 100 dollars. At corner stands Cohn's furniture, which has purveyed discount
furniture at Peck & Broadway for forty years. Cohn's has a trophy case
with four shelves of cast bronze statuettes from the National Rifle
Association. The NRA awards these to big donors to their programs. I'm
wondering if Cohn's has difficulties with robberies. Sang Sportswear
across street once was held up during a robbery commenced minutes
earlier. Police nabbed both perpetrators. After my appointment, I commenced to walk west on Broadway and dark
descended as fast as a curtain. I couldn't walk on the unshoveled
sidewalk, so as everyone must in Muskegon Heights, I walked in street
facing oncoming traffic. Winters, one or two pedestrians or bicycle
riding blighters are taken out by drunk hit &l run drivers. At Fifth &
Broadway, a young woman in a parka asked me for a cigarette. One could
only see her face under the hood, a young face. She chuckled as I
said, "no" and marched on past. A line of cars stood along the curb at
Bea & Arthurs, another C store, but one with dairy and eggs,
ingredients for an omlette. One imagines a time when Bea & Arthurs
served ice cream cones that families enjoyed under the hundred year
oak that hasn't fallen on the store. A woman with a parka said hello
to me as I came out of the store, and stepped into the dark on the
west face of the store. This side holds the last fuctioning pay phone
in the world, and I've noticed some pretty tony people touching those
touch tone keys before. You don't want to make those calls on your
personal phone. Strangely enough, the woman who stepped into the dark
had a lovely voice, as if she had sung in choir. I stepped off into my
own dark, heading west again on Broadway, saying nothing. A single
sentence can be construed as solicitation. So could giving the wrong
woman in the wrong place a cigarette. Two years ago, I was talking with a man at Jimmy's Lounge in Montague,
Michigan and we talked over the cheap beer available there. He was
some guy I had talked to before and he seemed alright. After burning
out of a high stakes security director job in Las Vegas, he had come
to earth as a programmer in Shelby, making no more than fifteen
dollars an hour. We got to guy talking and out of the blue he bragged
how he loved to cruise Broadway street in his Jeep Cherokee, looking
for a girl with a tongue stud. It only took an hour's pay. I was
rather glad I didn't put this guy's name in for a job where I work the
week before. I didn't finish my beer. I think it's time for the Blue Plate special at the Shultz Hall, then
a call to Port City Cab to bring me safely home.
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