Chapter 11-12

            The next part in the story takes place in San Francisco.  Sal meets up with his old friend, Remi, and they stay together throughout Sal’s entire stay in the city.  The difference in his stay in San Fran, is the fact that this time, he actually needs to retain a job in order to pay for living with Remi.  Remi is poor, and can’t afford to have Sal stay at his house for a few months without extra pay.  Sal gets a job as a policeman, and he works with Remi.  The two do not work together well, because they spend most of the time goofing off and messing around.  His stay in San Francisco is pretty much the same as it has been with every other major stay for Sal.  He messes around with his buddies, fantasizes about girls, and gets into trouble.  What’s funny about his stay with Remi, is that Sal causes so many problems for his friend, that he leaves on extremely bad terms with him.  Sal’s antics and jokes aren’t normally a problem, but because Remi is married to such an annoying brat, Sal makes their relationship worse, which in turn hurts his own with Remi.  His trip in San Francisco ends in shambles, which is too bad considering that it started off so well.  I think the major reason for this was his prolonged stay.  He stayed in San Fran longer than any other city (besides New York), and as the time dragged on, eventually the fun ran out.  Eventually jokes and antics become boring, and you become tired of seeing the one same friend every single day.  If Sal had left a month earlier, I think he could have avoided the problem.  On his way south, he meets a beautiful Mexican lady.  Unfortunately, at the time he meets her, he doesn’t realize that she is a mere simpleton, who doesn’t understand Sal’s conversations.  Since Sal lives for these conversations with his friends, I assume his relationship with her will end soon.  He stays with her only because he feels sorry for her, and not because he actually enjoys her company.  She might look good, but her inability to excite Sal mentally will play into their relationship (I believe) later in the book.