ST etc

[Michael Bailey]

Changing the (a) to “ass-backwards” ,  maybe go that way for awhile (pondering)

… the parting missive (291-293) from the kid, who without the umbrage of McTaggart’s shadow ticket would be like a young apprentice under his (McTaggart’s) developing aegis, but instead was being like shunted off from the Chicago private dick cohort and onto riding the rails with Zinnia, a young female companion who dreams of Hollywood Stardom - “They’re always looking for ‘us Ruby Keeler types’”,
https://youtu.be/hV2ZwftnaHg?si=wKfwlPfjxkTdaKpO


and why not? Who’s to say that that, and Skeet’s detecting ambitions in the larger market, won’t work out? The Lake Michigan shore, America’s Riviera, will keep on keeping on without Hicks or Skeet or Zinnia - Elliott Ness and his ilk will arrive to clean up Chicago, and community organizers there, among many others, will bring to fruition Langston Hughes’ prophecy about a black President - I can’t find this poem, am I mistaken, I’m sure I read it a few years ago - he predicts to the exact year a black President…breathtaking!

Lew Basnight, with a friendly loan, obviates their necessity for riding freight trains, good of him, and shares some sobering takes - “another one of those pep talks you guys are so good at.” I guess Lew moved back to Chicagoland/Milwaukee from LA himself? Or simply that he gets around.

The letter’s a nice reminder of where McTaggart’s come from, with no return address but at least a promise to pick up again (the correspondence, not that particular  letter, that is - he must’ve mailed the letter for McT to’ve gotten it, right?)


“Maybe they’ll keep finding new ways to be innocent.”
I like the way Skeet thinks.
Also, “Best pals always”