9. All I hear is Ringing [bells and phones]

In the story “The Kidnapper Bell,” Jim Pascoe does a great job describing the protagonist’s environment and clearly creates a distinct sense of place that distinguishes it from others.
The bar, for example, was specifically in Chinatown, with a wobbly square table and filled with a variety of people. He also gives a good description when it comes to the L.A. River, and how tiny whirlpools eddying in the stream differ from any other place.
Every detail he gave with the story put a clear picture in my mind, from the bar, to the drive towards the river, to the fence around the river, to the apartment, to the six cats, to the tunnels full of graffiti, to the glass, up to his own apartment.
I really tried to picture everything he saw. “There’s something familiar about the shape of these drain covers, the way the upper hinges taper off to points on either side of the large circle.” (Hamilton, Pascoe, 219) I still question what was so familiar about it? I think I may have to reread this story to understand it more because even though a lot of it was detailed, at the same time, it was so vague.

In the story “City of Commerce,” Neal Pollack also does a good job in displaying the environment. I don’t know if it was only because I’m a little familiar with the 110 and the I-5 but I felt I understood where he was going. The way he described this casino also allowed me to see it different than other casinos, since the protagonist describes it as “ugly, almost as thought the casino were deliberately trying to throw us off our game.” (Hamilton, Pollack, 231)
I was a bit confused with the location of the hotel and the casino, or at least the distance of it. Or wait ---- was the casino ALSO a hotel and the Russian man was staying there? Because I was a bit surprised when I found out that his car was at the same place.

BTW. This is off topic but was it only me, or were any of you surprised that the protagonist from “The Kidnapper Bell” had a wife!? I automatically assumed he was single, so this totally shocked me.
I was also shocked that the protagonist from “City of Commerce” just gave up completely and drove away to nothing. Not exactly a satisfying ending..