Chapter 1: Section 5: Page 41: Line 121 (703)

 Through the winter, though it seemed like any Chicago winter, that is a sub-zero-degrees version of Hell, Lew lived as economically as possible, watching his bank account dwindle toward nothing, haunted both sleeping and waking by unusually vivid reveries of Troth, all stricken with a tenderness he had never noticed in their actual life together.

* * * * * * * * * *

"a sub-zero-degrees version of Hell"
This might be a suggestion that Drave is the devil and Lew is in Hell made-up to look like Chicago, which is why he didn't recognize the neighborhood and the hotel he's staying at is so chaotic and the bellhop is a demon. Probably. "Hershel" means "deer" in Yiddish and that starts with "D-E" which rhymes with "D-E" and that stands for "DEMON."

"a tenderness he had never noticed in their actual life together"
Because the Troth haunting Lew was the objectified Troth he put on a pedestal in his imagination. Obviously a made-up phantom of a real person, whose agency relies on the person conjuring up that specter, would be a much better version of the real person. Unless the person with the vivid imagination also suffered from some clinical self-loathing.
    More metaphorically, the "Troth" we make up in our own head is always more sympathetic to our own desires and needs. Actual "Troth" isn't beautiful or pretty or swayed by our desires; it simply is. So Lew was haunted by truth of his past but it was a truth through his own distorted lens. That's something we call nostalgia.

Chapter 1: Section 5: Pages 40-41: Line 120 (702)

 Taking this as acceptance, Lew continued to perform chores assigned him, some commonplace, others strange beyond easy reckoning, transacted in languages he didn't always understand, until he began to feel some approach, out at the fringe of his awareness, like a streetcar in the city distance, and some fateful, perhaps dangerous, invitation to climb aboard and be taken off to parts unknown . . . .

* * * * * * * * * *

Lew Basnight's life and this streetcar intrigue me! I recently said, riffing on Ghost World, "My only regret when I die will be never wandering away from my home town on a mystery bus, leaving everything in the past forever." My best friend from high school responded, "Didn't you do that in your Volkswagen?" It was such a joyful revelation. How had I never made the connection? I suppose, subconsciously, it's why I loved Ghost World so much.

I don't know what Lew's streetcar symbolizes. A new life if he simply chooses to forget the guilt and leave his past behind him forever? Or is the streetcar the atonement, the vehicle waiting to take him to the next step in life if he can only gain the knowledge to find it and the courage to climb on board?

Ultimately, we see Lew has gotten with the program, whatever the program is. He's doing the steps, no matter how strange and unlikely they are to help him. He's putting his trust in Drave and Drave's plan. It's his work on Drave's plan, losing himself in doing the steps, that brings on the revelation of the metaphorical or mystical streetcar ready to transport him into a new life. Earlier, Lew tried to hop a train into Chicago to run from his old life but his old life followed him. Now he's learned he can't just flee; he has to prepare and strengthen himself and make a thoughtful and considered move into his future.

Chapter 1: Section 5: Page 40: Line 119 (701)

 Somehow this got back to Drave, who, deeply though perhaps unhealthily amused, struck Lew repeatedly with a "remembrance stick."

* * * * * * * * * *

I meant to read Dianetics in my thirties but never got around to it. I'm sorry that I didn't because I think knowledge of Scientology would come in handy while reading this chapter. The link between this weird self-help commune and Alcoholics Anonymous sort of unravels when one of the leaders begins hitting a new recruit with a stick to help him remember. Unless the remembrance stick is just a metaphor for some grizzled old timer taking you out in the dark church parking lot after the meeting to drink one more cup of coffee and to share a cigarette as he acts like your new best friend and encourages you to keep coming back. To him, he probably thinks he's being friendly. To the newbie, he's definitely up to something and that something might be sexual and maybe another beer wouldn't be a bad idea.

The remembrance stick just sounds like some weird ritual that Scientology would be into. I also wouldn't be surprised if Mormons had remembrance sticks. Come to think of it, I also wouldn't be shocked if half a dozen different Christian denominations had them.

I get being beaten with a remembrance stick. You've got to remember stuff! But being beaten with the remembrance stick when you haven't forgotten anything at all just seems out of line! Hershel didn't simply not tell Lew where he would be; Hershel aggressively didn't tell Lew where he would be! They set Lew up for failure. That also sounds like a method of brainwashing people used by Scientology!

"Drave" and Hershel
It's weird that these guys have no last names and their first names are slightly misspelled, right?

Chapter 1: Section 5: Page 40: Line 118 (700)

 By the time he tracked down the bellhop again, the ice had all melted.

* * * * * * * * * *

Yeah, well what the fuck did Hershel expect?! If you ask somebody to fetch you some ice, don't tell them, "I'll be somewhere completely random in this maze-like hotel, you dumb son of a bitch."

I'm sure Lew's failure at this task will be painted as a moral failing, like he's just not trying hard enough or he's unwilling to change.

I know there are always way more than two of a thing whenever somebody says "There are two kinds of X," but I'm going to say it anyway but with a slight mathematical modification so that it isn't as in-your-face stupid as it sounds: There are at least two kinds of readers: those who read about a community of kind individuals trying to help a stranger and think, "If only the real world were like this!" and those who read about a community of kind individuals trying to help a stranger and think, "This is how cannibals act."

I think you know which paranoid choice I am.

Chapter 1: Section 5: Page 40: Line 117 (699)

 Finding bourbon for Hershel was a breeze, they sold it here out of every street-door from dry-goods shops to dentist's offices, and they all waved away Hershel's greenback, being strangely happy for Lew just to start a tab.

* * * * * * * * * *

How did Lew know they all sold bourbon and that none of them would accept his money? If the first place he checked sold bourbon and didn't take his money, why would he need to check a second location? Or did he decide, since he still had twenty bucks, to get some bourbon for himself (but not at the first place where he started a tab because it might look weird to suddenly want a second bourbon when you found out the first one was (at least currently) free)? I suppose, being that the location he's found himself is like a kid's television set, say The New Zoo Review or Sesame Street or Villa Alegre, he could have just exited the hotel and been greeted by every shop owner on the block, all of them noticing his twenty dollar bill (which is probably the only bill in the neighborhood and they all know it belongs to Hershel) and greeted him kindly with a "Lookin' fer some booze, Mister Lew?" and a "I got ya covered here, buddy!"
    I suppose the point is that Lew has found himself in a weird community where everybody sells booze and nobody accepts cash and everybody is happy to see a new person join their throng. In other words, definitely a magic realist cult.

Notice this sentence doesn't say finding ice was a breeze though? I'm worried Lew might return without the ice, see?

Chapter 1: Section 5: Page 40: Lines 115-116 (697-698)

 "I'm a bellhop, Mr. Basnight, not a guest. There ain't that many places a guest can be, though a bellhop can be just about anywhere in the establishment."

* * * * * * * * * *

Well this is as unhelpful an answer to "Where will you be?" as I can think of. "I'll be fucking anywhere I want and you'd better hope it's someplace a guest can be or else you'll never Venn diagram that whiskey to me. And you know what that means because remember how I said 'See?' at the end of my request for whiskey? And did I not mention the ice?"

My guess is Hershel will be in the fucking lobby but Hershel is too tough guy to give a straight answer. It's too beta! Somebody looking on might think he's a cuck if he actually gave a forthright and helpful answer.