The Bag Runner

I wonder sometimes if people talk about me. I don’t seek fame or recognition as some local “celebrity” in the vein of the “Waving Lady” or the late Anthony Rodich. But I wonder if I’m known around town. 

Tire iron frenzy.

“Hey, there’s the “Bag Runner.” “Have you seen that guy that runs with the grocery bag?” “What’s he got in the bag?”

My eldest daughter’s boyfriend once commented he had seen me running “with your groceries.” I know the exact day to which he was referring. I had two bags that day – cleared 87 cans! Do some folks look around for my dog, assuming the bag must be filled with puppy poo?

Honestly, I don’t care what people think. If I was worried about their perceptions of the guy who runs and picks up stuff, I wouldn’t do it, and I sure as hell wouldn’t write about it. And really it’s kind of neat to think that somebody might have thought it interesting enough to note to a friend, “Hey, have you seen that guy who runs and carries a bag of God-knows-what? What’s with that?”

Story of the day

Red and blue lights flashed and the cruiser’s siren chirped a warning. Nobody move, it said. Nobody listened.

The tire iron, choice of car thieves and alley toughs of yesteryear, clanged and clattered as Brian dropped it to the pavement. He wouldn’t need it now that the police had arrived. The two punks who had been threatening him bolted. Why is unclear. Being in the middle of the long bridge carrying County Highway 10 over the BNSF classification yard, escape would prove difficult. That and the fact that the police car was blocking their Chevy Lumina from going anywhere.

Brian’s assailants were apprehended quickly and then the questions began…

This Bud's for me.

Meanwhile, across town, Rich and Zach were ambling along the sidewalk, swilling Budweiser from cans not so discreetly disguised as soft drinks. They weren’t disguised at all, point of fact, except that the festive Budweiser cans in red, white and blue for the approaching Fourth of July holiday kind of resembled Pepsi, or so they thought. Two cans down, they reached into the plastic grocery bag for another beverage and found just one can remaining. They had swiped four from the fridge at Zach’s house, so what happened to the fourth beer?

They never did notice the slit in the bottom of the bag, as they discarded it as soon as they came up with just one beer and an empty sack. They agreed to split the last brew and continued on their way, never realizing one full beer lay sadly in the grass by the road not 10 feet away.

And that’s how I ended up with an unopened can of beer and a classic tire iron today.

Today's Stats

Temp: 59 degrees F

Distance: 8 miles

Treasure: 3 pennies; 1 pair gloves; 1 full beer (Budweiser); 1 tire iron; 1 pink shop rag; 37 cans.

Smoke billows from the fire at the former
Willis Steel plant at Ferris Place.

 iPod Playlist (shuffle)

Say You Love Me (live) – Fleetwood Mac

Virgin State of Mind – K’s Choice

Innocence Maintained – Jewel

Sometimes You Can’t Make it On Your Own – U2

The Red Strokes – Garth Brooks

Two of a Kind, Workin’ On a Full House – Garth Brooks

Beautiful – Christina Aguilera

Keep Me In Your Heart – Jorge Calderon

Mr. Roboto – Styx

History Will Teach Us Nothing – Sting

One Moment in Time – Whitney Houston

Pursuance – John Coltrane

Rock Me Amadeus – Falco

Sink or Float – Aberdeen

Rosanna – Toto

Watching the Wheels – John Lennon

Mystify – INXS

I Wouldn’t Want to Be Like You – Alan Parsons Project

You’re the Inspiration – Chicago

Kansas City/Hey-Hey-Hey – The Beatles

So What – Miles Davis (Try this video for something different)