Chandler's Alley

Yummy crab grass

Most evenings I take Chandler out for a little walk. Sometimes we walk around the block, and sometimes we go down the alley behind the houses on the other side of the street. It's Chandler's favorite alley. It is where he saw the rat run out from under the garage door. The garage door that he checks every time we walk past it. Last evening we walked down that alley, behind a couple of guys who were smoking pot. they were about twenty feet ahead of us, but the aroma hung in the air. I remember that smell, it brings back some old memories. Further down the alley is Chandler's favorite patch of crab grass. Apparently it is delicious because he drags me over to it every time so he can munch away. I keep expecting him to barf it back up, but he never does. I like roaming that alley myself. It gives me a different angle on my neighbors. One house has a cat that Chandler really wants to make friends with, but the cat says no. It seriously does not want to meet Chandler. So Chandler whimpers a little bit when he sees it, and then we walk on as the cat hisses goodbye. Chicago alleys are an interesting place to explore. You see the back side of the street and sometimes you come across things you never really want to see. Like the time I thought there was a dead body in the alley. He turned out to be not dead, dead, but dead drunk dead. So I kicked his foot, he stirred a bit, and then the guy who owned the house he was passed out behind yelled at him to get the hell out of there. Always something happening in Chandler's alley.

That's the garage where the rat lives, the one with the door open.