Tension on South Compton

The tow truck driver called for a "badge," a police officer in the parlance of automobile impoundment. He was parked on South Compton in front of a GMC Jimmy. Across the street, a chorus of gangbangers taunted him with threats and. racial slurs, while the owners of the vehicle loitered next to the vehicle. Their car, which would soon be towed, was locked and they needed to get their children's clothes out of the backseat. So a friend of the family took a big chunk of concrete and, on the second try, managed to smash out the back window.

Beatle Bob Saunters by an Old Haunt

It was a rare daylight sighting of Beatle Bob, St. Louis' famous nightclub dance phenom. He crossed the intersection with one arm extended, his index finger pointing upward, lecturing himself, his mop-top hair-do perfectly in place. Bob then stopped momentarily in front of the Hi-Pointe bar to scrutinize the fliers taped to the window before disappearing down Oakland alley behind the Cheshire Inn, past the dumpsters.

A Theological Question

An old black woman, wearing wrap around sunglasses, sat at the table of the White Castle on Natural Bridge Boulevard in North St. Louis. Oblivious to the banter of her fellow customers, she was absorbed in her reading amid the smell of fried onions. On the table, she displayed a sign which asked: "Is the devil real?"