Hobo Jungle

[Tramp]

Mitch, here it is.

Bill takes a wallet out of his jacket pocket. It’s long and cracked and worn round on the edges. After a long stare at the thing, he removes a folded piece of paper that looks worse than the wallet. He holds it up like a winning lottery ticket.
“Son, I’ve carried this for a dozen years. It was given me by a little Mexican fellur who said he was some kinda medicine man, but he spoke good English and rode the West. We caught the same flatcar one morning ridin’ along the Rio Grande. Guy looked a hundred years old. I had some beers in a bag, still a little cool from the night air. And when I shared the beers with him, he give me this paper. So it’s being passed along. I don’t know where he got it. Feeling I had was that he wrote her up himself.”
His face all serious in the fire light, Bill hands me the dirty thing. I unfold it and it almost falls apart. On it are some numbers in a grid and a diagram. I keep looking, not wanting to putdown Bill’s gift, but I have no idea what it is.
“That, son, will make you a fortune. You see them numbers at the top? Them’s dates. You see them others? Them’s addresses. Next row? Them’s times. Then comes the key ones. They’re roulette numbers on a roulette wheel. The diagram shows you where in the casino the tables are. You know how roulette works?”
“Little bit.”
“Well, you hit a number it pays big-time. You see that number there, eight-five? Well, she’s coming up, as you know. Next year. And then you got yer month and yer day. Then you follow her down, and you got yer address. Them casinos is all in Las Vegas, Nevada. You hearda the place?”
I nodded. Who hadn’t?
“They’re all on the same big street. They call her the strip. You go there, find yer table, wait fer the exact time. She’s gotta be exact now.” He snapped his fingers. “Then you play yer number. She’ll hit, and yer a millionaire just like that.”
Bill is looking at me with his toothless grin like he just made me rich.
“But you never tried it?”
“Son, you got to raise at least a hundred to put on yer number. Now, I raised her one time, and I headed fer Las Vegas. No doubt about that. Trouble was, the thirst outran me fore I ever got there. And I ain’t raised that kinda money since.”
“But you think it’ll work?”
“You can’t be certain about nothin’, but I’ll tell you what. I asked that little Mexican fellur the same thing. He looked over at me and says fer me to watch. He takes an empty beer bottle. Now the freight, she’s flyin’ along past a rock wall on one sider us. He throws that bottle at the rock cut.” Bill made a throwing motion like you’d toss to home plate. “And you know what?” He waited until I shook my head. “She bounced. That there bottle didn’t break, she just bounced.” Bill shook his head and started laughing. “Damndest thing I ever seen.”

[rogruth]

And then?

[hev52]

Hey, that's really cool Tramp.................... Reminds me of the stories Ole' Joe would tell me. It's to bad I didn't rite down some of the stuff he did............ ...................


hev

[hev52]

64................Shit, we can't even git that for a low here at night...........................

Now next week they say they want it hotter............... .................been in the 90's all week. I guess what's out West is movin' east...............................shit..................gonna have to really stock upon ice and you know what......................

hev

[2railjon]

Hev, I think it's all those trains you've been runnin' have caused global warming up there. You should box them up and send 'em to me. You'll feel better.

[2railjon]

Sunset Grill

Lets go down to the sunset grill
We can watch the working girls go by
Watch the basket people walk around and
Mumble
And stare out at the auburn sky
Theres an old man there from the old world
To him, its all the same
Calls all his customers by name
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
You see a lot more meanness in the city
Its the kind that tears you up inside
Hard to come away with anything that feels
Like dignity
Hard to get home with any pride
These days a man makes you somethin
And you never see his face
But there is no hiding place
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Respectable little murders pay
They get more respectable every day
Dont worry girl, Im gonna stick by you
And someday soon were gonna get in that
Car and get outta here
Lets go down to the sunset grill
Watch the working girls go by
Watch the basket people walk around and
Mumble
And gaze out at the auburn sky
Maybe well leave come springtime
Meanwhile, have another beer
What would we do without these jerks
Anyway?
Besides, all our friends are here
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Down at the sunset grill
Don Henley

[Del Mar]

Jon,

A moody tune apt for the coming dog days.

Where in the hell do you suppose the Sunset Grill is located?

San

[2railjon]

San, If I were a betting man I'd say here:
(At least thats how I picture the bar in my mind when I hear the song.)

Joe and Eva Froehlich's Sunset Grill since 1957 | 7439 Sunset Boulevard | Hollywood

[webenda]

Jon,

Good detective work. Sky in Hollywood is blue after a rain, but usually it looks like this...

"...gaze out at the auburn sky."

[webenda]

Tramp,

Notice the reaction to your posting a short part of one of your novels? The storyline sucks the reader into it. The publishers who have turned you down are making a big mistake. Some day, when you are #1 best selling author, they will be telling stories about how they could have had Tramp's novels, but made a big mistake and turned him down.

I remember Jimmy Hakken's story in your story. Here's another example of a story in a story.

http://www.toytrunkrailroad.com/archive.asp

[2railjon]

OH HELL YES!!!!! Someone throw me the keys and a fifth of bourbon!!!! I'll take it for a test drive!!!!

[Tramp]

Lads, it's rather hot here in Maine tonight.

[webenda]

Leaving on a jet train...

THE JET ENGINES ROAR. THE PILOT AND copilot push the hurtling test vehicle to its limit. Technicians measure the stress on metal parts, the rising temperatures, and the vibrations created by mounting velocity, all the while clocking the speed of the machine. Then the run is over; observers announce that it has set a speed record.

This scene took place in the summer of 1966. The site was not an experimental air base but a peaceful stretch of farmland in western Ohio. Don Wetzel, on the staff of the New York Central Railroad’s Cleveland Technical Center, was the engineer that day as his vehicle established a land speed record for locomotives.

The company borrowed a 13-year-old Budd RDC3, a self-propelled diesel commuter coach, from an Eastern line and towed it to Cleveland, where its motors and passenger seats were removed and replaced with two General Electric J-47-19 jet engines and more than 50 instruments to measure speed, stress, bearing temperatures, and ride characteristics. Small radio transmitters were affixed to the front axles and electronic sensors studded other parts of the locomotive. Real-time data was written to magnetic tape, displayed on oscilloscopes, and recorded by direct-writing oscillographs. Remote-controlled cameras made a visual record; track irregularities were recorded digitally.

According to Wetzel,“We were just holding on. It was a ride!” With Perlman in the copilot’s seat and other N.Y.C. executives on board, movie cameras posted at milepost 347+13 recorded the M-497 flashing by at 183.85 miles per hour, a U.S. rail-speed record that stands to this day.

Reference: http://www.americanheritage.com/article ... 2_63.shtml

Jon, see if you can get it to 200 mph.

[2railjon]

Wayne, as you can see I'm being "suited up" for the event!!! (San loaned me his old costume)

YA-HOOOOOO!!!!!!! (look at that dude by the streamliner hauling ***!! )

[P&R Pete]

Holy H!
If there was one person I could see willing to get behind that throttle of that crazy-ass idea, it would be Jon!!
I could see him strapping one onto the rear fender of his Shovel, too!

Hey I got a question for you guys-

You are driving in a car at a constant speed.
On your left side is a valley and on your right side is a fire engine traveling at the same speed as you.
In front of you is a galloping horse.
Behind you is a helicopter flying at ground level.

What must you do to safely get out of this situation?