Tales of the South Side - 'Hear Me Roar!' I Did and Called Out for More

"The first problem for all of us, men and women, is not to learn, but to unlearn." —Gloria Steinem


Caitlin Nolan-Kane called her husband Charlie F. Kane at work.

Charlie Works for Com Ed.

Charlie went to trade school, while Caitlin, his honey-haired sweeties went to De Paul Law School and they married after Caitlin passed the last of more than a couple of bar exams. Caitlin had credentials and Charlie had solid reputation as an electrician and solid citizen.

Charlie was in a cherry-picker basket high above an alley in West Beverly over by the Bank on 103rd & Western.

Caitlin Nolan-Kane was struggling with a problem at her dining room table.

The couple had been married for the better part of year and Caitlin was unsure whether or not she should be stay-at-home Mom, or a Cook County Judge.

Caitlin had passed the Illinois Bar Exam on the third go-around just before she married Charlie.

Caitlin's stay-at-home Mom issue was one of what might be, as she and Kane had no children. The odds were better of Caitlin becoming a Cook County Judge. Charlie put in a great deal of overtime.

The electricians cell phone rang repeatedly, because he was rather busy and he ignored doing anything unrelated to the task at hand. Caitlin was persistent.


The frustrated and perplexed young woman asked Charlie Kane, " Why didn't you answer?"

" I'm up in the basket, Sweetie," answered the devoted spouse and tradesman.

"Can you help me when you get home?"

"Sure," he replies. "What's the problem?"


"Well, I started a really hard puzzle and I can't even find the edge pieces."

"Look on the box," Charlie said. "There's always a picture of what the puzzle is."


"It's a big rooster," she said.

"I'll be home at 5, or 5:30, Babe."

"Don't stop with guys at Keegan's, Honey. I really want to finish this."

"I'll be right home once I get the truck back, Love. Try and relax. Do something else until I get home."

As good as his word, the forthright Charlie Kane put the Tahoe in the garage of their sweet home on Talman near Kean Gas. He removed his work boots and went straight to the dining romm table and surveyed the problem that confronted his pretty wife.

Having repaired rainbows of wires and circuits and conduits tangled and fouled and kinked in Gordian knots the electrician immediately assessed the problem, "Okay, put the corn flakes back in the box."

"Oh, My God! I took out the wrong box."

" These things happen."