{"id":4868,"date":"2024-12-01T18:14:42","date_gmt":"2024-12-01T22:14:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/?page_id=4868"},"modified":"2024-12-01T18:14:44","modified_gmt":"2024-12-01T22:14:44","slug":"2024-hello-columbus","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/fiction-archive\/2024-hello-columbus\/","title":{"rendered":"2024 HELLO COLUMBUS"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Sand Hill Migration 2, Jill Bemis<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

HELLO COLUMBUS<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

By Mark Crimmins<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

You sit here in Potbelly\u2019s across from the Statehouse, eating a fine Potbelly\u2019s breakfast sandwich of bacon, egg, and American cheese. You occupy a window seat across an alley from Einstein\u2019s Bagels. On the wall behind you are beautiful old photographs of musicians, back in the day, performing right here at Potbelly\u2019s. The monochrome snap of a four-piece jazz band on the sidewalk patio of the restaurant is as good an ad as the establishment could hope for.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Before you settled here, you noticed a large crowd of down-and-out people in the stairway of the Statehouse\u2019s underground parking garage. Two retired couples drifting across the parking lot assured you that this was the first freezing day in Columbus this year. They reminded you to turn your headlights off and\u2014with laughs that were a nod to the inhospitable weather\u2014chanted a mock greeting:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWelcome to Columbus!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A woman who looks like Janis Joplin\u2019s sensible sister (in her prime) smiles at you in your nook as she takes a table facing the street. Potbelly\u2019s streetside window seats are actually old church pews. Next to the window, just ahead of the dancing snowflakes outside, hangs a sign that reminds you how to respond to a young lady who smiles at you in Potbelly\u2019s:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

GENTLEMEN WILL BEHAVE\u2014<\/b>Others Must!<\/i><\/b>\u00a0<\/b><\/p>\n

Across the street, on Capital Square, those waiting for buses are freezing. They shift from foot to foot to keep warm. Some blow little clouds of breath into their cupped hands.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Near the cash register and facing you as you came into the caf\u00e9, there stood an old, nicely preserved, black iron potbelly stove. For some uncomfortable moments\u2014until the waitress appeared\u2014you thought you had to extract your coffee from that contraption.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The waitress laughed when she realized why you were so puzzled.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

When you set sail from Columbia Missouri this morning, you saw a sign by the freeway entrance: <\/span>Mark\u2019s Mobile Glass<\/b>. You thought\u2014with a nod of recognition\u2014that the sign described your consciousness: mind, in movement, reflects the turning world.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Wherever you go, you train the binoculars of perception on the phenomena.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Here in Columbus, you peer at a new microworld through stereoscopic glances.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Columbus discovered America.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Now you are discovering Columbus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n

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Mark Crimmins’s first book, psychogeographical travel memoir Sydneyside Reflections, was published by Everytime Press in 2020. His short stories have been nominated three times for Pushcart Prizes and twice for Best of the Net awards. They have appeared in numerous literary journals, including Columbia Journal, Tampa Review, Confrontation, Permafrost, Eclectica, Kyoto Journal, Queen’s Quarterly, Reed Magazine, Apalachee Review, Atticus Review, and Chicago Quarterly Review.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jill E. T. Bemis is an aspiring photographer, landscape painter, and writer. In addition to being the family genealogist, she is the author of the \u201cGotcha Games\u201d series and co-authors \u201cA Different Path\u201d with Daniel Quir\u00f3s Delgado. Her photography may be viewed at https:\/\/jetbemis.com<\/a>. A career public servant, she lives in Minnesota with her husband Michael, son Nate, daughter-in-law Julia, Dana the dog, and Tiger the cat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HELLO COLUMBUS By Mark Crimmins You sit here in Potbelly\u2019s across from the Statehouse, eating a fine Potbelly\u2019s breakfast sandwich of bacon, egg, and American cheese. You occupy a window Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":590,"featured_media":0,"parent":1301,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4868"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/590"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4868"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4868\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5227,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/4868\/revisions\/5227"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubalt.edu\/welter\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4868"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}