lunch in the south loop.

Lunch break near Michigan avenue redefines efficiency.  Every suit knows the rules as orders become a number with a signed receipt added to the needle stabbed pile.  Sandwiches are eaten while looking out the window from a barstool and every top button is undone.  Seated women take off one heel and scratch the other ankle, a small glimpse of the relief to come once the workday concludes.  Meals are too big to finish comfortably and just too small to put the last bit in the office refrigerator.  

Unless, of course, it is the semi-seasonal company picnic.  Then an extra half-hour for lunch is taken.  When this happens, I do not get to take a nap.

The South Loop is an ecosystem of migrant tourists, established predators and bright eyed, innocent, recent college graduates.