A Run of Jacks

Dear Anthony Lawrence,  

Suddenly I had a vision of Blodgett, a burning shuddering frightful Angel,

palpitating toward me across the road, approaching like a cloud

with enormous speed, pursuing me like the Shrouded Traveller bearing down on me. I saw his huge face over the plains with the mad, bony purpose and the gleaming eyes; I saw his wings; I saw his old jalopy chariot with thousands of sparking flames shooting out from it; I saw the path it burned over the road; it even made its own road and went over the corn through the cities, destroying bridges, drying rivers, It came like wrath to the West. I knew Blodgett had gone mad again.

Your Man Out West,

Jack  Kerouac

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Dear Jack

My cousin is a dentist in Williams, in the wheat belt of Western Australia.

One night a sick, feverish-looking creature turned up at his surgery

after hours and walked into the waiting room as he was packing up

after a heavy day. It was a black night. The marron were on the move from dam to dam. He could hear them clicking through the open window, it was so still. This tall white-haired creature stared at him with red swollen eyes, and said. "Help me, I need a doctor. I think I've turned into a moth" The man reeked of wheat and he had what looked like a roll of wire in his fist. He looked around quickly and said "I have given up on all forms of travel," then just stood there, staring. My cousin said "So what makes you think you're a moth? Why did you come here?". "The light was on," the man said. My cousin ushered him out the door and watched him go. Later he would describe the man as “some kind of animal”.

Anthony