The Bounce — Part IV: Chicago Landing

By Cliff Potts
Bay Bay City, Leyte, Philippines — October 8, 2026

This is a serialized installment from the autobiography of Cliff Potts.

Arrival

Chicago was still in session when we arrived. Their school year ran longer, and 1967 had been a heavy snow year.

I did not re-enroll. There was no practical reason to add another short-term entry to the list of schools.

We moved in with relatives.

Not Yet Home

Some cousins treated us as outsiders from the start. One, close to my age, tested boundaries immediately — pushing, prodding, establishing position. It was behavior I had seen in schoolyards before.

The oldest of the three boys was different. Kinder. Years later, he would die after an accident and a long spiral of addiction. The others drifted out of my life.

We stayed a couple of months.

I learned something there:

Family matters — but only the ones who choose you.

Proximity is not the same as belonging.

The Bounce

Chicago was not yet home.

It was simply where we landed after another stretch of motion — after the airports, the highways, the rest stops, the missed exits, the ground-floor apartments, the brief stability in Wheatland, and the steady eastward push.

The bounce did not end when we reached the city.

It only paused.