Once I lost my daily habit, it turned into a less than weekly habit as I didn’t write another entry for almost two weeks. This time, I wrote down a collection of story ideas (story ideas are cheap—my punk-ass self was crapping these out like a gringo tourist in rural Mexico).
Story ideas:
“Rite of Passage” The relationship between two freshly graduated from high school teenagers, Jim & Tom. Tom is the “big stud” type an Irich Catholic typical of the Catholics that Jim knows in that his religion does not extend beyond the church walls. Jim is a member of the minority in his neighborhod—he’s Polish and he “thinks” he’s an atheist. But, for some reason, he finds that he cannot “after tea and ices/find the strength to bring the moment to its crisis”¹ (a reading of Eliot that JPC did not seem to wholly approve). We follow the events leading up to Tom’s discovery of Jim’s virginity and subsequent decision to push him past the edge through a rendezvous with a Cicero Avenue³ prostitute. The latter event is the climax of the story. Does Jim carry through? Does he tell Tom? It occurs to me that the story might conclude with jim having “made it” with the prostitute and riding home from the motel with Tom. After a period of silence, Tom reveals he didn’t go anywhere with his date of the previus night although he had the opportunity. Jim wonders about the new role reversal.“A little dignity”⁵—Samuel Johnson once wrote “One always needs to be loved, one does not always need to be reverenced.”*⁴ It is the tale of a professor who is what is generally referred to as a “hard-ass.” Then, one day, he acts a little foolishly in class, reading from Shakespeare in charicatured voices. Why?
BusSongs—A bus driver who failed in his single effort in finding a dream—playing Jazz trumpet professionally—and his single effort at finding love—a girl who he never had the courage to approach while he was in high school—and is triggered into attempting to regain them, only to discover that you can’t go back.⁶
Aunt Lucie—a 12-year old is kidnapped by his “crazy” aunt Lucie without realizing it. Told as a reminiscence with anecodes about things he would learn until later. My picaresque novel.
San Dinero—a debtor Latin America nation is repossessed.
* Or something like that.
Evidently, I was afraid of forgetting my prolific pile of ideas and wanted to write them down somewhere. I have much more schematic notes in a note file on my phone now, so I guess some things never change. I returned to most of these ideas, as I recall, except BusSongs which likely belongs in the pile of ideas never to return to. I think Aunt Lucie still has some possibilities, although maybe more as a story than a novel.
- A slightly misremembered quote from “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock,” which should have been
… after tea and cakes and ices,
Have the strength to force the moment to its crisis - The initials of my high school English teacher, Joe Caravello, who first introduced me to Eliot, amont other key literary influences.
- Cicero Avenue between Cermak and Pershing now is a busy commercial district, but at the time, was notable for hourly motels and street-walkig prostitutes.
- Dig me, putting footnotes in a hand-written journal.
- This story idea was something I wrote about earlier in my notebook.
- This was a novel I started writing in high school, but never finished. Apparently, I still thought it was worth pursuing two years later.
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