Austin Web Designer - Adam Freetly

this city is a mall

the tale of how i lost myself, then lost my wife, then found everything again.

current tune: dredg - sanzen

after i dropped my cat off to get super-powers from radiocat i went to meet my wife for lunch. Arriving early, i browsed the lobby of her building and came upon the holy grail of my college education: a map of the pedway. Several professors said that our projects should include information involving the pedway, and to make tie-ins in our projects. But no one could ever find maps of this amazing pedway. My other contact with the pedway came when i was kid sitting in the basement level cafeteria at Marshall Fields. Then it was just a dark hallway that supposedly led to the Randolph street metra station. But it was too scary for my parents to let me check out.

so, when my wife came downstairs, we headed into the state of Illinois building and into the pedway in search of a bathroom. The ones in the Illinois building were closed (like the ones in her office), so we headed on through the pedway. Unfortunately once we got into the city hall/cook county building, we couldn't find a connection further east, as we headed to Marshall Fields to spend my wife's gift certificate. So we headed up to street level via escalators near the marriage court. We walked over on surface streets to fields.

when we got to fields, we made for the philosophy counter (after a stop in the fields' restroom), where I promptly realized i had left the fields gift card on the counter at the bank. So we put the lip balm on our bank card, and resolved to return it and put it on the gift card if the bank had our card. So my wife went back to work, and i went off to find the rest of the pedway.

i went back to city hall to pick up the trail. i knew that part of the pedway passed over the blue/red line stops at Washington, so worst case, i could enter there and try to find my way west before continuing east. But when i emerged inside city hall, it occurred to me that there might be a second entrance to the pedway. When i turned east, an escalator awaited me. i headed downstairs to the familiar section under Daley plaza that included the red and blue line, replete with street musicians and homeless people trying to stay out of the cold. Oddly enough, this was one of the colder stretches of the pedway.

Arriving at Marshall Fields, i had to detour into the store to see if it was the same stretch i remembered from childhood. The answer was a resounding no, since it didn't empty into the foodcourt at all. So i resumed my walk eastward. In short order, a plaque explained why the Marshall Fields entrance wasn't as i remembered. It read: "Mayor Richard M. Daley 1989." See? i'm not crazy. The pedway had been recently rebuilt. Now every few bays there was another entrance to fields.

Around the next bend, where the formerly creepy hallway should have been, there were a series of walkways that were clearly still under construction, with fancy glass storefronts and the like. i noted here that the pedway is no secret to the white collar loop workers. Even on a day when most people aren't working, the hall is far from empty. This is also the first section that hasn't had a starbucks and a newspaper stand.

the next set of revolving doors leads me into an outdoor environment, except with low ceilings. There are three entrances to the pedway here, and it's pretty damn cold. This doesn't deter the newspaper stand operators, though. As i close my jacket, a man walking next to me asks if i walked all the way through. i say yes, this is my project for the day, finding out where the pedway goes. He explains that the pedway has been closed for a long time. This explains the construction in the previous few blocks.

the revolving doors that lead into the Randolph metra station provide a little protection, and the first (that i've noticed) public restrooms. Here's where i get a little lost. First i walk down to the set of tracks to the left. No pedway signs there. Then i walk down to the set of tracks to the right, and spy a door at the other end of the platform. i head through it, noting the lack of pedway signs, and find myself on the third level down of Randolph street. With no obvious continuation of the pedway, i head back inside. Crossing back across the platform, i see a hallway marked pedway to the left of where i entered the platform. Heading down that hallway, i see signs for prudential center, and for Washington street. i had seen prudential sign in the train station, but it led to what i thought was an exit to the surface. Since i don't see any other paths to try, i pass through the revolving doors, to be greeted by a blast of warm air.

up two escalators and around a turn i spy a small arrow marked pedway. Back on track. Although substantially larger arrows to something called "curve" would love to lead me astray again. Moving quickly on to the aon building, i catch some views of frank gehry's bandshell out the windows. Around a set of escalators, a few pedestrians and the smell of (yet another) food court alert me to the next leg of the pedway. After finding myself in a hotel by accident, and then catching a cool breeze leading me back to the food court, i find another hallway.

this is the first hallway that is actually like what i imagined the pedway. Austere white walls with pipes running overhead and only a few hurried pedestrians. i pass a set of glass doors, behind which looms the lakeside athletic club's rock wall. The walk continues on, and i find myself alone. The pedway ends with an echo. My footsteps repeat themselves in a room with only two doors and a rolldown fire door. The other door leads to a parking garage. Fair enough, i've already walked a mile. Now i head back through the endless food courts to my wife's office.

when i get there, bang on 4:30, as i was meant to, i exit the elevator at the wrong floor (15, not 13) try again, get it right, and get stopped by a receptionist. When i tell her i'm meeting my wife, she tells me that my wife left just a minute ago, we must have passed in the elevators. Since the guard downstairs told me it was 4:30, i assume i'm running a bit late. i dash back downstairs, to find the lobby empty. Confused, i ask the guard if a girl in a ski jacket has been waiting around the lobby. He says no, no one waiting.

knowing that my wife wanted to clear up the gift card issue, i assume that the secretary is right, she left without me. i think for a moment, and assume she's gone to get on the train. i pay my fare, and dash up to the platform. It's full of people, just not my wife. i ask how long people have been waiting. They say 10 minutes or so. so if she's left, she'd surely be on the platform, right? i dash down to the lobby level and scan for my wife, but she's still not there. Confused, i decide maybe i can meet her at the bank to pick up the gift card, and run back up and get on the train.

i get to my stop on the el, and run to the bank. The great people at wamu are standing at the door with my card in hand, waiting for me and my wife. i ask if she's been by, but she hasn't. i explain that we were supposed to meet at her work, but she wasn't there, and now i don't know where she is. They say they will tell her i'm looking for her if they see her. i say thanks and run back to the el stop. i scan the people in walking from the train, but no sign of my wife. After cooling down a bit (from all the running), walk home. When i get home, there's a message from the minute before i got in the door, from my wife, saying she's sorry her secretary lied to me, and that she's just leaving now.

whew. So i throw my coat on, forgetting the cell phone (again), and my wallet, and the card, and run to the el stop. Finally i spy my wife and throw my arms around her. We walk home debating who was more worried about whom, and live happily ever after.