A man who liked something other than sports and cars: that was a find.
She also realized he was doing this to calm down, and it was helping to calm her, too.
He jigged over to Walnut and lingered in front of the Germania Building with its statue, a woman in a robe, holding a shield. She stood on a setback in the second story of the ornate building.
“This was the German Mutual Insurance Company,” he said. “In World War I, the anti-German feeling was so hysterical, the company became Hamilton Mutual and they draped the statue. They renamed a bunch of the streets, too. English Street used to be German Street. Bremen Street became Republic…”
“You see what it’s like to ride with Mister President,” Dodds said.
“Cheryl Beth, do you know what J.C.’s nickname was when he played football at UC?”
“Now don’t start that!” Dodds grumbled.
“It was ‘Sweet Dreams’ Dodds.”
“Sweet Dreams.” Cheryl Beth suppressed a laugh. “I assume that’s because you hit the other guys so hard it sent them to nap time, along with a potential concussion.”
“Damn straight.” Dodds adjusted his posture. “See, she gets it.”
“Then why are you aggravated when I bring it up?”
Dodds faked a punch at the back of Will’s head. “Man, Borders knows every building, every cobblestone here. He’s a frustrated architect.”
“Maybe an architectural historian,” Will said. “I hate most modern architecture. Except for the Contemporary Arts Center and the P &G headquarters.”
“Which looks like Dolly Parton’s…” Dodds stopped himself.
“Oh, please,” Cheryl Beth said. “Everybody calls them the Dolly Parton Towers. Nurses can match cops any day in inappropriate language. We’re as weird as you guys.”
Dodds chuckled.
“If we’re going to have to do this,” he said, “Why don’t you drive over to the Samuel Adams Brewery. While you regale Cheryl Beth with Over-the-Rhine’s beer history, I’ll break in and get us a six pack.”
“This is the heart and soul of the city,” Will said.
“It’s the heart and soul of scumbaggery,” Dodds said.
“Jeez, Dodds, some guy killed five people in a little town in southeast Indiana last month. Crime happens anywhere. The city has to warehouse so many of the poor and uneducated because they’re zoned out of suburbia…”
“Complex socio-economic-cultural drivers behind this.” Dodds face dropped into mock seriousness. Then his teeth gave an 880-key smile. “My travel tour would be to point out every building where we had a dead body. I could put up about a hundred red targets as a tourist attraction. See that intersection? Three homicides in one week a couple of years ago. That building: stinker on the fourth floor, middle of July…”