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GOOD MORNING by Ailana Geven Keller

Happy Sunday from Gold Coast Chicago. We’re not going to work too hard today, but we do have plans.

The Ryans (sans Kel), Everetts, and Jasmine are going to church with Josh’s family. Kel, Emily, Jason, and I are going to the church in Lowell where Jason’s dad was the pastor.

More on that as the day progresses. For now, let me get back to the history lessons about Chicago. I’m really learning a lot.

By 1870, Chicago had nearly 300,000 people. Then, on October 8, 1871, the Great Chicago Fire began.

It burned for two days, destroyed more than 17,000 buildings, left roughly 100,000 people homeless, and killed about 300 people.

You’d think something like that might have stopped the city’s rise. Instead, Chicago rebuilt at an incredible pace.

The rebuilding also changed the city. New rules encouraged more fire-resistant construction, architects experimented with new materials and methods, and downtown began growing upward as well as outward. In 1885, the Home Insurance Building opened and is often called the world’s first skyscraper.

Meanwhile, the railroads kept bringing people, livestock, grain, lumber, and manufactured goods into and out of the city. Chicago’s stockyards and meatpacking industry became enormous, and immigrants from Europe arrived in huge numbers looking for work and opportunity.

By 1890, Chicago had more than one million residents.

Then came the World’s Columbian Exposition in 1893. The fair brought visitors from around the world and showed off a city that had gone from frontier settlement to international metropolis in barely sixty years.

That seems like another good stopping point. Tomorrow, I think we should talk about what happened when all that growth collided with the realities of crowded neighborhoods, industry, labor, and immigration.

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All characters in this story are fictional characters, their images generated with AI for AGI Stories. They do not represent any real person, nor is their appearance based on any real human.

BACK AT BUCKLEY by Ailana Geven Keller

Jason, Emily, Kel, and I are here at Buckley Homestead County Park.

In my opinion, Buckley is a hidden gem here in Lake County. It feels like a literal time machine. And it’s actually in Lowell, just minutes from the high school.

It’s a 575-acre living history farm that lets you step right into the 19th and early 20th centuries. You can explore the historic 1916 barn, an old-fashioned schoolhouse, and other structures that preserve the area’s farming history.

This is one of the places where Jason and I taught ourselves photography. It was our lab for rule of thirds, leading lines, converging lines, lighting, and so much more. I’m still working on negative space, but we tried that here, too.

It is a fantastic spot if you love hiking quiet trails, seeing farm animals, or checking out seasonal festivals. If you come, plan on taking things slowly. It’s not going to score well on the Yawn Meter if you’re looking for something exciting. It’s more like an experience than an event.

I think Emily and Kel have bought into the vicarious nostalgia Jason and I bring to this place. Kel has one of Geoni’s cameras, Emily has her iPhone, and they’re experimenting—and giving me flashbacks to when I was their age!

We’re going to spend a few hours here, then head for dinner. I’ll check back later, so see you then.

LOOKING AHEAD by Evelyn Chandler

A leaky faucet at the beginning of July led to me meeting Allen, and in the days that followed, I came to realize his company was something I wanted to enjoy frequently.

After church today, I talked him into a drive up the island, away from town, where we might photograph birds and other things in a more natural environment.

We stopped at The Baked Bear for ice cream.

Somewhere between the whipped cream and the bottom of the bowl, Allen revealed something about himself that I’ve noticed more than once.

“I’m surprised you still find reasons to have me tag along with you. I’m not complaining…”

I decided the birds could wait. “You act like being with you is a chore or something.”

He shrugged. “I’m just a plain regular guy. I’d imagine I’m boring by now.”

“You are a kind, intelligent man with a good sense of humor. Your only fault is how you think about yourself. I actually like being with you. You make things better.”

He stirred his ice cream. “I think you’re exaggerating.”

“Really?”

He shrugged and nodded.

“Look… you don’t have to believe what I see yet. But you also don’t get to decide what I see.”

He looked up at me—he seemed wary, but he was listening. “I just think you’ll end up realizing I’m not really what you want.”

“Okay,” I said. “How about this? We keep doing what we’ve been doing. We keep hanging out. We keep having fun. I won’t try to talk you out of every doubt you have about yourself, but you have to let me think what I think.”

He looked up at me–he seemed wary but he was listening.

“Just take what I say at face value, Allen. If I say I enjoy being with you, then I enjoy being with you. If I keep saying yes and keep asking to see you, then I’m choosing to be here. And I’d like to think you are, too.”

GOOD NIGHT by Ailana Geven Keller

This one will land a little differently. Also, Kel and Emily enthusiastically endorsed me sharing this.

“Tell them,” Kel said. “We’re not embarrassed that we’re trying to do the right things.”

And they shouldn’t be! Let me go back to Buckley.

There’s a small creek through the fields, and a footbridge crosses it. We stopped there to take some pictures, and Emily looked at Kel.

“Ask them.”

“Now?”

She nodded.

“What’s up?” Jason said.

“We wanted to ask how you decided how far was too far when you were our age?”

Jason looked at me and I’m sure my eyes were bugged out, so he looked back at Kel and Emily and said, “We discussed it and agreed in advance. We decided in advance so we knew before we needed to know.”

Emily nodded and smiled.

Kel nodded and said, “Okay, that’s cool.”

And that would have been it, I think. They would have just gone on like they’d asked what color the grass was if Jason hadn’t been curious.

“What makes you ask?”

Emily answered. “In youth group… They said we’ve got a lot of couples in the group and we should be sure to keep things pure.”

“That’s good advice,” I said.

Emily went on. “We’ve been a lot more careful and the accidental touches aren’t bothering us.”

She’d told me a month ago they had some oopses when they were cuddling. But I wasn’t ready for her next comment.

“Now we’re working on how to handle what we do on purpose.”

I guess my face gave away my surprise, and she added, “What? Like, you know what I mean.”

I nodded. “I think it’s great that you’re thinking about it. And even better that you’re willing to talk about it. And, like, you’re both standing right there holding hands deciding how far is too far.”

“We don’t want to mess things up,” Kel replied.

And there it was…

Even after so many weeks, they are still operating in the “don’t mess up” frame of mind. That, I think, is a topic for another day.

May you know you belong so fully that you have no fear of messing things up.

Good night.

Jason's response wasn't off the cuff. He was tapping into what he and Ailana actually worked out when they were in high school.

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