Page 128

"You must understand Animal, that I am not after a freedom to wander. I have married a nurse, who has a deeply religous social conscience. I do not respect the world as she does, but I respect her for looking at people and things in this way. She believes that reality is stability. If I may be poetic? A strong flower holding against the wind is more beautiful than one dashed and distroyed along the highway. She sees people who stand firm in a meaning related to her past on the farm, I am not trying to put out a point about money for position; I need money for tools so that I may do work, but not work that bends my mind against my- self. I want work that is my choice, so that at least my hands will remain free." "In the house of Manhatten, which is the Animal's decent, it is now that the silver spoon now feeds the babe of the L.A. street rats" "Walking on the street this morning, Animal, I meet a man late for work. He was standing at the Pico, Lincoln Bulvd. Bus stop. He asked me how I was doing, since he knew I had left the mill. I said fine, which made him ask if I was playing. No, I am not playing, I told him. He looked at me bewildered, and I went on that I was looking for my own work. He said that he was tired. The mill was tired. Not just that the mill made him tired, but that the mill was tired too. His face,"