ATDTDA (13): Road baby, 358-361 #2

[Paul Nightingale]

Archie has already promised vast fortune (bottom of 358), fulfilment of the
capitalist American Dream; and Reef keeps his doubts to himself (top of
359). He continues to gamble, from necessity, saying "it gave him no
pleasure to take what he called 'sheep to the shed'" (360): this recognition
that he might be exploiting those less gifted than himself follows the
introspective passage dealing with life "on the edge of that old day-to-day
question". Moving round, always meeting strangers, "you didn't know from one
card to the next who'd be likely to pull out a pistol or a dirk" (360).
Hence, exploitation is inseparable from a possible retribution: the text
deals with personal interactions here, in marked contrast to those
impersonal interactions organised by capitalism, eg ". not tools on credit,
nor seed money courtesy of some banker, just their own common fund of fear
." etc.

By the end of the section the extent to which this account is retrospective
has become clearer. Their partings, the various places they have lived-and
then: "But nowadays ." etc. Earlier, that Stray's friends "kept getting Reef
into way more trouble" (359) indicates a willingness on his part to play
that particular game (just as much a form of gambling as sitting round a
card table), which in turn indicates a commitment of sorts to Stray; one
wonders how far this lifestyle corresponds to the need for a disguise. By
the end of the section he has indeed come close to masquerading as a
"respectable wife-and-kids working stiff" (eg "living in a nice little
cabin", which indicates some kind of stability, albeit in tension with the
"miles-apart personal thoughts" of the closing line), even if the
resemblance to Webb is a distant one.