It`s early Saturday morning and it feels like 20 below. Few cars are traveling on Dempster Street as it cuts through Skokie. But the parking lot at 4905 is packed. Kaufman`s Bagel Bakery usually is.
Noisily awaiting their number to be called, several dozen people shuffle between the store`s steamed windows and the equally steamed glass bagel cases. That`s why they`re here. Fresh-from-the-oven bagels.
”Number 51,” shouts a clerk.
A heavily bundled elderly man, perhaps in his late 70s, and more than a bit weather-worn, slowly makes his way to the counter as he likely has a thousand times before.
”A dozen sesame seed bagels,” he says. ”Not poppy seed. They get all over the floor.”
”That was OK when we had a dog,” he adds to no one in particular. ”But he`s not with us anymore.”
”Number 52,” shouts a clerk.
”A dozen raisin bagels,” I say. ”And toss in a poppy for the dog.”
