Chicago [antikvár]

(DIHIII(DA(S(D)g Hbdk^^t^lfesteirdlgQy ¦N LOS ANGELES THERE ARE FOLKS WANDERING AROUND IN THE SMOG WHO HAVE BEEN LOST FOR YEARS AND ARE STILL TRYING TO FIND THEIR WAY HOME TO HUSBANDS OR WIVES who have long since remarried and to children who grew smart and left town. In San Francisco, even the most cautious resident who strays from the waterfront is likely at any moment to lose his footing and do a Jack-and-Jill down one of the innumerable hills, probably winding up under one of those funny little cable cars. Houston is home for a colony of big-hatted expatriates, waiting for a pardon from the president of some national corporation so they can come back once more to the Midwest. In Sarasota and Fort Lauderdale the sun is so unbearable that wise householders stay inside until dusk, quietly mildewing. In Boston the natives speak a strange tongue, vaguely resembling English. They won't understand you and you can't understand them. Anyone asking directions winds up in a curious place called Haahvaad Yaahd. Don't leave the airport. Washington is pleasant. But all those politicians? In Philadelphia—Let's put it this way. There once was a contest, you may recall, in which first prize was a week in the City of Brotherly Love and second prize was two weeks. Nothing has changed. Then there is New York. The average New Yorker (and virtually all New Yorkers are average, if the truth be known) spends most of his time dawdling over a three-hour lunch or trying to get from one side of the island to the other, a completely impossible task. But enough about all the minor places, especially Manhattan, the metropolis where that old champagne feeling (which admittedly it once had) has been replaced by a frenetic desire to get out of town before it's too late—even if you don't know too late for what. Say hello to Chicago! We mentioned average New Yorkers. It is improbable that there is such a creature as the average Chicagoan. For one thing, Chicagoans, because of the bracing Lake Michigan air, proper Midwestern food, and a wise refusal to venture out on New Year's Eve, are far healthier than the rest of the population, and in particular New Yorkers. Healthy persons are far too busy to become like everyone else. Thus Chicago is a city of individuals. Chicago has other advantages. For example, if you have to reach the airport in a hurry, O'Hare International Airport, said to be the wodd's busiest, is only about 25 minutes from downtown. Okay, longer during rush hour. Another plus for Chicago. It is situated fairly close to the middle of the country, give or take 600 miles (if we've gone metric by the time you read this, make that 1,000