Ballads of Suburbia Read Online Free

grandmother would call them. You know, where the only thing that varies from one house to the next is the color of the paint job. But Oak Park is not one of those suburbs.
    Separated from the West Side of Chicago by an imaginary line down the middle of Austin Boulevard, Oak Park still looks like part of the city. The houses were built in the same era and are of the same style. The east-west streets have the same names. You can catch the “L” in Oak Park and be downtown in fifteen minutes.
    The big difference is the feel: more of a small-town vibe, less of the hustle and bustle. My parents talked up Oak Park like it was a fairy-tale kingdom. Middle-class but diverse. An excellent number of parks, trees, “good” schools, and libraries per capita. Chic, independently run shops populating the main streets and the pedestrian mall in the center of town. Houses of the Frank Lloyd Wright ilk sprawling like midwestern miniplantations across two or three normal-size lots on the north side. ClassicVictorian “painted ladies” speckling the entire town. My parents couldn’t dream of owning those houses, but our four-bedroom had an enclosed sun porch at the front, a deck out back, and a living room with a real working fireplace. It was a huge step up from the bottom half of the two-flat we occupied in the city.
    My parents claimed suburbia was safer than Chicago, but I certainly didn’t find it kinder and gentler. On my first day of school, I was approached by Maggie Young during recess. Maggie had a face like JonBenét Ramsey’s, but with big brown eyes and perfect ringlets of chestnut hair framing her features. She was always trailed by an entourage of five or six girls. Two of them were her best friends; the rest acted as servants in hopes of winning her favor.
    When they came up to me, I smiled, mistakenly thinking I would be welcomed to join them on the playground. Instead, I was given a bizarre test of my coolness. Maggie asked if my jacket had a YKK zipper. When I checked and responded that it didn’t, she scoffed, “Does your family shop at Kmart or something? I bet those aren’t even real Keds.”
    Her minions giggled like chirping birds. I stared down at my dirty white sneakers, both ashamed and confused. I hardly had a clue what she was talking about. We were seven, for Christ’s sake, and fashion hadn’t been a big deal at my old school. But my faux pas meant my automatic exclusion from the upper echelons of second grade.
    Later that afternoon, when it came time to pick partners for a science project, every girl I sought out with my gaze refused to meet it except for Stacey O’Connor. She came running over, gushing, “Wanna be my partner?” Her bright blue eyes danced. “I already have an idea for the project.”
    Later we would use two empty two-liter bottles, some green food coloring, and a little plastic device Stacey’d seen on some PBS show to demonstrate the workings of a tornado.
    Since Stacey already had the project figured out and discussing her plan took five minutes of the thirty the teacher allotted, Stacey launched into getting-to-know-you talk. “Where did you move from?” she asked, smiling so wide her freckled cheeks dimpled.
    â€œThe city,” I boasted, having already decided Chicago was superior to Oak Park. It had taller buildings, the lakefront, and far friendlier kids.
    â€œI lived on the South Side until I was four,” Stacey told me. “My dad still lives there.” She seemed equally as proud of her Chicago roots, but then she frowned, becoming defensive. “My mom and dad aren’t married and never were. If you’re gonna be mean about it…” She glared in the direction of Maggie Young.
    I shook my head so vigorously that auburn strands of hair slapped me across the face. “I’m not gonna be mean to you! You’re the first kid who’s been nice to me.”
    With