Summer 2019: Chicago is not a good place to fall into the river

Let’s go down to the river and pretend we live on the other side, in a big
house with a dock and a boat. Let’s pretend we walk home and never
fight again. Let’s pretend the Chicago River is clean and we walk to it
every day in the summer and swim without drowning. When I moved to
Chicago I wanted to live on Sunnyside.  Then I wanted to live with you.
My street crosses Sunnyside and Sunnyside ends at the river. So let’s
walk through the manor at dusk and pretend it ends at the Seine.  Let’s
pretend we speak French and in French we tell each other: I’m sorry.
Let’s walk down to the Chicago River and have a picnic of bread and
pesto and no calories.  Chicago is as good a place as any to pretend. So
let’s make like winter never happened, like I don’t fall every January
because I’ve finally conquered the ice and my dog’s paws have become
immune to the salt and I don’t miss my desert. Let’s walk down to the
Chicago River and pretend that we don’t have to pretend, that we never
told each other: you ruined my life.  Let’s get into our pretend boat and
float all the way downtown so we can watch the fireworks at the pier and
in each other’s eyes.  Then let’s go further south, to where we met at the
end of the semester. Let’s get our story straight this time.