Dear Wigleaf,

My friend is from Kalamazoo and he keeps landing in and out of the Jefferson Health buildings downtown. He has a condition that keeps him in bed for two days or sometimes three weeks. Back in my hometown I spent half a summer working in the oncology ward, and somehow I can't shake the feeling that on the way out from his room I'll push through the wrong automatic door and find myself back there.

My friend is from Kalamazoo and we talk by his bedside about our hometowns. Kalamazoo had the better record store, my hometown had the better indie theater. I feel like I'm in that one Amy Hempel story except everyone is a transplant and also he's going to be fine.

My friend is from Kalamazoo and if you'd believe it, it has even better names: K-zoo, the Zoo, Paper City. My hometown has a bad name and it gets worse.

from Philadelphia, Philly, the City of Brotherly Love,

K.P.