By the time Friday night roles around
thirty people will be expecting a place to sleep in Annie's small two-story house,
and lets hope the basement is tiled, the porch is painted
and all the travelers are skinny French models. To make room for the throng, Annie has bartered the refinishing of the basement for space in her garage and the painting of her enclosed back porch for a weeks stay.
Her frame house on the south side of Chicago looks no different than the other frame houses extending out down the block. Tourism isn't a big draw this far down the Dan Ryan, but inside Annie's house you'll find travelers from Russia, China, Slovakia, Ghana, Germany and St. Louis, Missouri all looking for the $15 bed promised to them on Airbnb. Most stay despite the initial apprehension caused by the four block walk from the Green Line. "The French never stay," I'm told. No refunds either way.
Some Chicago summer festival has tripled the need for cheap places to stay, and Annie has booked triple her current capacity, but like all good business people she understands "current capacity" is just a term used for yesterday's business plan. Time for a new plan.
We recorded this in a hurry and in one take on her newly painted enclosed back porch.
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