{"id":1424,"date":"2015-12-27T11:39:46","date_gmt":"2015-12-27T18:39:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/?p=1424"},"modified":"2016-10-08T14:00:14","modified_gmt":"2016-10-08T20:00:14","slug":"12-26-15","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/2015\/12\/12-26-15\/","title":{"rendered":"12-26-15"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"710_1865_365_HDR_122615\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Day 360 –<\/p>\n

Around here, you have two options for coffee, donut shop or gas station. \u00a0I opt for donut.<\/p>\n

I’m a bit of a coffee snob. \u00a0I like it strong with a tiny bit of cream. \u00a0I’ve learned to speak the language. \u00a0“Dark roast, half cream.” \u00a0It’s as close as I’m going to get. \u00a0Confidence is not high.<\/p>\n

Back in the car, I take a sip. \u00a0I look at it. \u00a0It’s a coffee milkshake. \u00a0Half cream must have meant half the cow.<\/p>\n

I look back at the donut shop, contemplating going back for something stronger.<\/p>\n

————–<\/p>\n

“A little boy and little girl died in the fire.”<\/p>\n

I look at the woman behind the counter at the drug store. \u00a0“What fire?”<\/p>\n

She points across the street. \u00a0“Over there. \u00a0Happened this morning.” \u00a0I can just make out a house with a burned roof. \u00a0I’ve seen a lot of those – caved in roofs, aftermaths of fires – but usually not in a city. \u00a0Mostly out in the fields. \u00a0Barns, sheds, and sometimes houses.<\/p>\n

She says something about the door banging when customers leave the store. \u00a0It makes her jump. \u00a0My mind is already outside. \u00a0I follow it and can see a little more. \u00a0The smell is faint, but it’s\u00a0there.<\/p>\n

Around the block, the smell is stronger. \u00a0Not like a campfire, more sickly, sweeter, worse. \u00a0Furniture and dry wall, wood and plastic, everything a house holds. \u00a0It will stick around this neighborhood for quite a while. \u00a0People will catch a whiff and remember. \u00a0There is still charred wood in the street. \u00a0The drizzle and rain makes everything worse.<\/p>\n

The woman at the drug store was wrong. \u00a0One child, a seven-year-old girl, died. \u00a0Four injured.<\/p>\n

A neighbor walks their dog in the back yard next door.<\/p>\n

————–<\/p>\n

The coffee. \u00a0I take another sip. \u00a0It’s hot. \u00a0Too milky. \u00a0Weak. \u00a0Awful.<\/p>\n

It’s perfect. \u00a0I’m lucky to have it.<\/p>\n

————–<\/p>\n

News report about the fire\u00a0here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Day 360 – Around here, you have two options for coffee, donut shop or gas station. \u00a0I opt for donut. I’m a bit of a coffee snob. \u00a0I like it strong with a tiny bit of cream. \u00a0I’ve learned to speak the language. \u00a0“Dark roast, half cream.” \u00a0It’s as close as I’m going to get. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2,124,94,114,115],"class_list":["post-1424","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","tag-2","tag-favorite","tag-il","tag-kankakee","tag-someones-american-dream","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1424"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1424\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1424"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1424"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.jamesgralian.com\/365\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1424"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}