GROUNDHOG DAY mixed with SIXTEEN CANDLES and a splash of DOCTOR WHO. A boy forever reincarnated as himself meets his soulmate for the 200th time, but can she solve the puzzle and break the curse to make herself his last?
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Martha Beckett's life...
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James parked the car at the corner of 54th and Cottage Grove at 4:15 pm. Their first stop had been the Earwax Cafe in Wicker Park for a quick breakfast. It had a wonderfully bizarre, circus themed decor and its staff and patrons had the piercings and tattoos of those from Martha's favorite restaurant in West Hollywood. He had oatmeal and she, a bagel with cream cheese and a coffee. Then they toured Lincoln Park Zoo with its gorillas and tigers and penguins – Martha's favorite.
They had lunch at Lou Malnati's. Martha entered the restaurant hungry, but barely finished one slice of their dictionary thick "pizza." It was a delicious dictionary, but good grief, Chicago!
Afterward, they headed south on Lake Shore Drive with the majestic black and silver skyline on their right and the blue sparkle of Lake Michigan on their left. They continued past Navy Pier and Soldier Field, then took a right at the Museum of Science and Industry toward their current location adjacent Washington Park.
Presently, James and Martha crossed the street to enter the park. It was massive – as big as any she'd seen. He checked his watch then they took a walkway that ran diagonally into the green. So much green. It was in stark contrast to the parks she was used to – desert landscapes force-fed irrigation in an attempt to counterfeit the midwest's fertility.
Hand in hand, they continued in silence down the path flanked left and right by broad white oaks. Martha didn't know or care where James was leading her. She listened to the birds chirping and some unidentified insect buzzing and was too happy to mind the cliche. But come on... the birds and the bees? A remote siren confirmed they were not, in fact, crossing through Eden. Additionally, Martha heard applause and traced it to a crowd in the distance gathered outside a building attached to the park.
The run of oaks ended and James and Martha came to a clearing. It was the size of a football field with walkways bisecting the lawn vertically and horizontally. A circular garden of purple, yellow, and red tulips interrupted the concrete at its center. On the opposite end, the crowd gathered on a plaza leading to the structure – a park district building; maybe a museum?
More applause and cheering came from the crowd. James and Martha were close enough now to make out a man speaking to the group from atop a modest stairway. They reached the assemblage and settled in the back.
"People, I'm telling you, we can rise up. We can." The crowd was predominantly African American. In addition to the intermittent applause, a steady flow of "Tell it!" "That's right!" or some variation followed the speaker's words. Or were his words following the crowd's? Like a single organism inhaling and exhaling, the rhythmic incorporation of his speech and their responses was uncanny – seemingly too perfect to be unrehearsed. The speech was definitely live, however.
"But you gotta work, brothers," he continued. "You gotta get out there, sisters." Martha recalled a Baptist Church a friend took her to the morning after a sleepover when she was ten. She didn't convert, but the electric intensity in the building remained vivid in her memory. A similar passion hovered over the plaza, though as far as Martha could tell, the speaker hadn't mentioned God or any notion of religion.
