Young Lonigan - James T. Farrell [302]
“Well, are we or ain’t we?” asked Bryan impatiently.
“Count me out. I’m tired, and I’m going home to hit the hay early,” Pat said.
“How about you, Lonigan?” Don asked.
“No, thanks. Not tonight,” Studs answered.
“Don, can’t you see that this gang is as full of vim, vigor, vitality, and ambition as a sleeping alligator?” O’Grady said.
“Well, I’m ready,” Martin said.
“And try walking home on your own feet tonight to see how it feels,” Studs said to Martin, smiling.
“Don’t worry about me there, foxy grandpa,” said Martin.
“Well, I’ll see you again, fellows,” Studs said.
“Take care of yourself, Studs, and don’t take any rubber dimes,” Pat said as Studs walked to the chain drug store entrance to go in for a malted milk.
VI
“You missed Amos and Andy tonight. Golly, they were funny,” Lonigan said as Studs entered the parlor.
“I was talking to some fellows I know,” Studs said, unfolding his copy of the morning’s Chicago Questioner and letting his eyes run over the headlines.
ALBANIAN SLAIN IN WEST SIDE HOLDUP
Aged Newsdealer Shot
To Death Battling Robbers
REDS BATTLE COPS
Anarchistic Literature Seized
Patrolman O’Houlihan
Seriously Injured
Scores Arrested; Fifteen
In Hospital
MILK STRIKE RIOTS IN EAST
Scores Injured
BUS PASSENGER SHOT AS AUTOIST IN
CRASH FIRES
BLAME AGITATORS FOR MINE STRIKE
Governor Invites Inquiry
JOBLESS FATHER SLAYS FAMILY OF SIX
BANKER PRAISES HOOVER
Predicts New Boom in Next Six Months
SHOTGUN BANDITS COW 19
Get $4,000
MOVIE STAR WINS FREEDOM
Names Society Woman Correspondent
SOLOMON IMBRAY PREDICTS GREATER CHICAGO
After Depression City Will Grow
CATHOLIC PRIEST ASSAILS SOVIET
Moscow Atheistic and Pagan
Father Dooligan Finds
Russia Unfit for Society
of Civilized Nations
“Anything in the papers, Bill?”
“Not much. A couple of holdups. And a Red riot on the west side. A cop was beaten up and taken to the hospital with a broken leg,” said Studs casually.
“They ought to put a stop to those damn Reds, starting trouble when the country has its hands full as it is. The cops aren’t even safe with them any more. I tell you, there ought to be a law against ’em, and they ought to be put at hard labor on an island like that Devil’s Island the French got,” Lonigan said with a rising self-righteousness that drew blood to his face.
“Yes, and it says here that some university professor named Lovett has protested to the mayor against police brutality.”
“He must be an atheist. What does he want, the cops to stand there and let their legs get broken? They haven’t got any respect for law, these atheistic university professors and Reds,” Lonigan said.
Studs read the account of an interview with Solomon Imbray.
“The depression is only temporary, and the process of shrinkage and deflation of values has reached rock bottom. We can now expect and prepare for a period of expansion, during which we will know greater prosperity than we have ever known before. Of this, I am absolutely confident. And this new wave will carry Chicago forward to an unprecedented development. One day Chicago will be the queen of cities, the world over,” said Solomon Imbray today, traction magnate and one of Chicago’s leading civic spirits, in an interview granted upon his return from a visit to New York.
Umm! Guessed that, after all, he’d better hang on to his stocks and wait a bit. Imbray ought to know what he was talking about.
“As I was going to say, though, Bill, I’m sorry you missed Amos and Andy. You would have laughed yourself sick at them.” Lonigan’s belly rolled as he laughed. “They’re so much like darkies. Not the fresh northern niggers, but the genuine real southern darkies, the good niggers. They got them down to a T, lazy, happy-go-lucky, strutting themselves out in titles and with long names and honors, just like in real life.” Studs wished that his father would finish, so he could read the paper without distraction. “Amos and Andy got their taxicab now.” He laughed again. “But it won’t run. Andy elected himself