At length the car deposited them at a street-corner from which, the conductor assured them, it would be but a short walk to the Fairgrounds—or, as he chuckled, "depending on how late in the evening, a brisk run," and went on its way in metal-to-metal clangor and clopping.
* * * * * * * * * *
I dug out a map of Chicago at the time of the Columbian Exposition and worked out the exact corner that the lads would have been dropped off, considering it was the south side of the city and they'd only have a short walk.
No, of course I didn't. But that's what I think people expect from a blog like this! People who actually want some grand, nearly unintelligible discourse on Pynchon and all his novels aren't going to find that here. But the people who just want silliness and whimsy with maybe some accidental insight into the novel won't ever get that experience because the idea of a blog concentrating on every line of a novel they're probably never going to read aren't going to read this blog anyway!
I'm the worst at branding.
Anyway, I guess the south side of Chicago could be dangerous and this chuckle-head conductor thinks it's funny that these two kids could be killed on the way to the fair and also those horse-drawn conveyances must have been super noisy and I bet everything and everybody smelled really bad and can you imagine how many flies must have been covering everything?! Who are the maniacs who yearn for returning to eras of the past?! Oh sure! Please may I live in turn of the 19th century Chicago where the air reeks of cattle murder and mutilation and where I'm almost certainly living in poverty and where rich industrialists hire Pinkertons to bust in the heads of anybody trying desperately to improve the living conditions of every day folks and where immigrants are treated as sub-par human beings? Oh boy!
Imagine if Disneyland weren't based on fairy tales and imagination but realistic depictions of past eras? I bet I'd see far fewer posts on Facebook from friends who somehow think "staying young" means purchasing only items branded Disney.
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