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A phrase came to him quickly Meone later, when he was ready to write So he stopped and jotted this new bit of poetry in his head onto two blank numbers slips, then shoved them into a different pocket Later, when he could head up to the graveyard, where he liked to write, he’d copy them into the brown leather notebook that held his poems and stories
Memphis turned the corner Blind Bill Johnson sat on a stoop with his guitar His upturned hat lay at his feet, a collection of s "Met a man on a dark road, he had a ravelly whisper of a voice "Met a man on a dark road, he had a mark upon his hand Said the storm’s a-comin’, rain down hard upon the land" As Memphis passed, Blind Bill called, "Mr Campbell! Mr Campbell! ’Zat you?"
"Yes, sir How’d you know?"
The old ood with the scissors, but that oil he use could wake a dead ht the collection of change in the hat, touching each coin until he had two dimes "Put twenty cents on my number, Mr Campbell One, seven, nine Go on now, and put that in Put it in for old Blind Bill," he said with urgency
Memphis wanted to tell his Everybody knew Bill lived over in the Salvation Army mission, and sometimes on the streets, when the weather was decent But it wasn’t his place to say anything, so he pocketed the coins and wrote out a slip "Yes, sir I’ll put it in"
"I just need a change of luck is all"
"Don’t we all," Memphis said and uitar again, singing about shadowy ains struck under h they were in the heart of the city with its rue twisting in his gut
"Memphis!" another runner called froet to it! It’s alot about his bad dreams He tossed the empty milk bottle into a rubbish bin, shouldered his knapsack, and ran down the street toward the Hotsy Totsy to wait for the day’s number to come in
On a street la and tensed, listening The bird cawed once s and shadowed Memphis Campbell’s steps
THE MUSEUM OF THE CREEPY CRAWLIES
Evie disembarked from the train with a wave to the porters and conductors hoh to Pennsylvania Station She was now in possession of twenty dollars, three new addresses in her brown leather journal, and a porter’s hat, which she wore upon her golden head at a rakish angle
"So long, fellas! It’s been swell"
The conductor, a young man of twenty-two, leaned out from the train’s stairwell "You’ll be sure to write me, won’t ya, sweetheart?"
"And how Just as soon as I practice ally blind, so I’d better fly to her side Poor dear Aunt Martha"
"I thought her name was Gertrude"
"Gertrude and Martha They’re twins, and both blind, the poor, poor dears Farewell!" Her heart thu, Evie rushed up the stairs from the platforram had been quite specific: She was to hail a taxi outside Pennsylvania Station on Eighth Avenue and tell the driver to take her to the Museum of Ahth Street, off Central Park West She had been sure it would be no trouble at all Now, in the hubbub of Pennsylvania Station, she feltice and finally found herself in the enor arched s and the giant, center-placed clock whose filigreed ar--as were trains
Nearby, a very glath Russian sable despite the heat was drawing an ever-thickening crowd of followers and shutterbugs "Who is that?" Evie whispered urgently to one of the aded "Don’t know But her press agent paid ape like she was Gloria Swanson Easiest buck I ever made"
Evie scurried to keep up with the hustle and bustle of the crowd and nearly wiped out a newsboy hawking the Daily News "Valentino poisoned? Read all about it! Anarchists’ booes ape for evolution! All the news right here, right here! Only two cents! Paper, Miss?"