Friday, December 20, 2013
the Cadillac to the owner, who lived out on Lake Shore drive in a swank
apartment with the enormous garage underneath managed by oil-scarred Negroes who had to sleep nights to hold their jobs and couldn’t stay up
all night with the bop. We drove out there and swung the muddy heap into
its berth. The mechanic did not recognize the Cadillac. We handed the
papers over. He scratched his head at the sight of it. We had to get out
fast. We did. We took a bus back to downtown Chicago and that was that.
And we never heard a word from our Chicago Baron about the condition of
the car, in spite of the fact that he had our addresses and could have
complained. It was simply that he had a lot of money and didn’t care
what kind of fun we had with his car which might have been only one of
many in his stable. It was time for us to move on to Detroit and
conclude the final thing in our disordered life together on the road.
“If Edie’s willing she’ll come straight back to NY with us. We’ll get an
apartment in town and if that Beverly Denver girl of yours actually
does follow you we’ll be all set with our women and go out and get jobs
and eventually, if I make any more money, we’ll do exactly as we said in
the trolley car; we’ll go to Italy.” “Yes man, let’s go!” We took a bus
to Detroit, our money was now running quite low. We lugged our wretched
baggage through the station. By now Neal’s thumb bandage was almost as
black as coal and all unrolled. We were both as miserable looking as
anybody could be after all the things we’d done. Exhausted Neal fell
asleep in the bus that roared across the state of Michigan. I took up a
conversation with a pretty country girl wearing a low-cut cotton blouse
that displayed the beautiful suntan on her breast tops. I was on my way
to see my wild former wife, I wanted to test other girls and see what
they had to offer me. She was dull. She spoke of evenings in the country
making popcorn on the porch. Once this would have gladdened my heart
but because her heart was not glad when she said it I knew there was
nothing in it but the idea of what one should do. “And what else do you
do for fun?” I tried to bring up boyfriends and sex. Her great dark eyes
surveyed me with emptiness and a kind of chagrin that reached back
generations and
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