"But Darby's there with him."
* * * * * * * * * *
Oh Miles. We all know what Lindsay's response to this is going to be! As if Lindsay has shown an ounce of respect for Darby so far. Miles would be better offer suggesting Pugnax was there to keep him in line. Besides, we all know Darby already admires Chick Counterfly. It's like how Richie Cunningham was in love with The Fonz. This kind of male love just can't be helped.
"I? no, not at all—beyond an unavoidable apprehension at the thought of Counterfly with full run of the ship and no one to supervise him, I am as cheerful as a finch."
* * * * * * * * * *
"thought of Counterfly with full run of the ship"
If this thought troubles Lindsay, you'd think he'd figure out a way to keep it from happening. But we all know Lindsay would rather deny Counterfly a close inspection of the Chicago World's Fair and if that means leaving him alone with the Inconvenience, then so be it. It might trouble Lindsay to think what Counterfly might be doing to the ship but the reason he claims to be "cheerful" is probably because of withholding a fun night at the fair from the rebellious lad.
"cheerful as a finch"
I learned a few years ago that I can do a pretty realistic bird song imitation. Just now, I watched a YouTube video of a finch singing and it's almost exactly the bird song I can imitate.
I'm not sure Lindsay understands what "cheerful" actually means. He is, after all, the Spock of the Inconvenience. He probably just thinks "cheerful" means "not uncheerful" which it most definitely does not. So while he's not currently upset with somebody particularly, he simply thinks he's in a cheerful mood.
Unless the saying "cheerful as a finch" is ironic because finches are actually mopey jerks whose song sounds happy but in reality they're dive-bombing cats and poking other birds' eyes out for their seed. That seems like Lindsay.
"You look kind of glum, Lindsay."
* * * * * * * * * *
Of course Lindsay looks glum! He's not berating anybody for breaking any rules! I'm surprised he isn't scolding other travelers on the horse-drawn bus for sitting incorrectly, or speaking too loudly, or sticking their elbows out of the window. So dangerous! You never know when the bus is going to barely fit through an underpass, scraping the side of the bus along the stone wall and shearing off the careless passenger's elbow!
Lindsay is my history teacher from 7th Grade, Ms. Bertaina. She once told a story about traveling in South America on a bus where they were expressly warned to keep their arms inside the windows at all times. She said one man was casually leaning his elbow out and he bent down to pick something up when the bus did exactly as I just stated, scraping against an outer wall as it trundled past. Then she said the man looked up surprised and made eye contact with her and she just pursed her lips and nodded at him in a secret "I told you so" scold.
The main thing I remember about her classroom was that on the left-hand side of the chalkboard was the word "a" and on the right-hand side of the chalkboard was the word "lot" because she was going to take off a full letter grade for anybody who wrote "alot" on any of their papers, by God!
Miles gazed with keen curiosity, but Lindsay regarded the scene with a peevish stare.
* * * * * * * * * *
Goddamn I can't stand Lindsay sometimes! Most of the time! I like the way he insults people so intelligently, mortally wounding their psyche with the perfect turns of phrase, but I can't fucking stand anything else about him! Imagine regarding everything with a "peevish stare." Miles sitting nearby, wide-eyed and agape at a man pissing on a ramshackle hovel while Lindsay tut-tuts and sighs loudly. Miles oohing and aahing at a woman passing by, carefully lifting her skirts slightly above the ankle as she steps over a puddle of mud while Lindsay rolls his eyes and sighs even more loudly. Miles clapping his hands in delight as he sees a pack of wild dogs surely eviscerating a passed out bum in an alley while Lindsay sighs loudly and mutters, "Humanity."
Lighten up, you human stick up an ass!
The horse-drawn conveyance they had boarded took them through the swarming streets of southern Chicago.
* * * * * * * * * *
The photograph is also minus the swarming streets. The street where this picture was taken was doing the opposite of swarming. "The horse-drawn conveyance minus the horse that they had not boarded sat lonely in the dormant streets of southern Chicago."
Also this might not be southern Chicago. But the picture is from the Chicago Historical Society so I'm going to trust that it is actually Chicago.
Meantime Miles and Lindsay were off to the Fair.
* * * * * * * * * *
Why is it that the best buddy movies are the ones where the "buddies" have conflicting demeanors and personalities? My friend Upright and I used to think we should write a story about our friends Doom Bunny and Wes Gibson taking a road trip together because they were the two friends that would probably never hang around with each other without the glue of one or two other friends between them. We were pretty young then and probably thought this was the greatest idea ever when it was actually just the entire idea behind the comedies of Laurel and Hardy or Abbott and Costello. It's basically Trains, Planes, and Automobiles. It's just another version of Midnight Run. Maybe the only twist of our story is that there would wind up being no heart to it, no reconciliation in the end, no eventual respect of the other person. Our story probably would have ended in murder or suicide.
Anyway, the idea of Miles and Lindsay going off to the fair together made me think of that. These two are not going to have a good time together.
