◆ SpookStack

Not Jong after Rezinsid left, I dragged out the -wildest zoot suit in Kew York. This was 1943.:The Bose °*- ton draft board hed written me et Ella's, end when thay t had no results there, had notified the New York draft. cow _ board, and, in care of Senay, I received Uncle Sen! 8 ve . Grectings. re, In tho2s days only three things in the world scared -_ tes jail, @ Joby*and the army. I haa about ten days ; before I was to show up at the induction center. Zi went risht to work. The arzy Intelligence soldiers, those © °...°° | black sples in civilian clothes, hung @round in Harlem "=. > | with their ears open for the white man dowmtom. I knew - exactly where to start dropping the word. I startéds | noising eround that I was frentic. to Join, “- _ the a Japanese ary. ; Wren it seemed that I hed the ears of ihe Bples, I would talk ené act high end crézy. A lot of Harlen. aa hustlers actually had reached that gtate---as Iwould: - .*. later. It was inevitable when one haa gone long u a enouzh on heavire érd heavier narcotics, and under steadily tishtenins viee of the hustlinz life. I'd snatch out and reed ny Greetinis zloug, to make certain they - heard who I ues, and then 1l'd report downtown, (this ° - wes probably the only tice ny real uame was heard in Eerlec in thos € divs). The day I wert down there, I costumed like an actor. With ny wii zoot suit I wore the yellow knob-toe snoes, end I frizzeled zy heir up into @ reddish bush © ~of conk. I whet in, skipping end tipping, and I thrust wy tattered Greetinzs at the reception desk’ 8 white soldier- "Crazy-o, daddy~o, get me moving. I can't wait to get in that brown---", very likely that soldier hasn't recovered from we yet. They had their wire on me fron uptown,@al right. But they still put me through the line. In thet big starting room wers orty or fifty other propective inductees. Ths room hed fallen vacuzs quiet, with me runaing my mouth a mile a minute, talicins nothing but slang. I was going. to fisht on all fronts: I was soing to be a general, men, before I got done--such talk 63 thets Lotte 2. ys wost of thea were white, of course. The tender~ isoking ones appeared recdy to run Trot. me. Sone others. haé that vinezary "worst kind of nisser" lcok. 4nd e few abe were azused, 6seins me a5 the NGerlen tizgaboo" archetypes *Yfe Also exuged were seme of the rooms ten or twelve Nezroes. But the stony-feced rest of them looked as if they were rcady to sign up to zc off killing Sous body--~ they would hnavwd liked to etart with me. RS The line woved along pretty gcon, strippdd ‘to ty shorts, I was using ty ¢ager-to-join comments in the med~ - foul axttinition rooma-~and everybody in tne white: coats ° ABT TosAw hod . 4-> 18. Bis, eveSs ; - re : ped aa eS ne .