Chapter 4 third chapter

On that day, summer in the Catskills was over, and Big Merlin was out of a job.Toby, who was with Merlin, had no work to do.Toby can go wherever he wants.But where?He has no home, no work, and no money.At this point a female guest offered him twenty-five dollars to transport her and her three children from the Catskills to Chicago.So Toby made up his mind. Toby left without saying goodbye to Merlin and his stinky little animals. In 1939, Chicago was a thriving, open-door city.It was a city where money was all the rage, and anyone with the means could buy everything from women to drugs to politicians.There are hundreds of nightclubs catering to all tastes.Toby went to all these places, from the big and noisy "In Paris" to the small bar on the Rue Rouches, he went all over.But the answer is always the same, no one wants to pay a young boy to be a comedian.He was really cornered.But it's time for him to start fulfilling his mother's dream.Time is not forgiving.

He was almost nineteen years old. The club where Toby hangs out every day is called the Nihai Club.There are three outdated characters who engage in singing and dancing entertainment here.The three play together.One was a middle-aged comedian with a broken body, drunk all the time; the other two were strippers.One is Mai Li and the other is Jie Li.The ad said they were a pair of sisters—the Burley sisters.In fact, it is unlikely to be the two sisters.Both were in their twenties, and both were tacky and cheap to attract customers.One night, Jelly came to the small bar and sat next to Toby.Toby smiled and said politely, "I like your performance."

Jieli turned to look at Toby.That was still a childish boy.She was too young and dressed in shabby clothes to be noticeable enough.Jieli shook her head nonchalantly, and started to turn away, when Toby stood up.Jieli caught a glimpse of the telltale bulge in his trousers, and then she turned her head to look up at the boyish, youthful face. "My God!" she said, "is that all there?" He smiled: "Of course, there's only one way for you to know." At three o'clock that morning Toby slept with the Burley sisters. Everything is very well planned.An hour before the show, Jelly led the club's burlesquer—a gambler who gambled with his life—to an apartment on the Avenue du Versee.The dice are being rolled here.When he saw this, he licked his lips and said, "Let's stay here for a while."

Thirty minutes later, Jieli sneaked away.The comedian is still there throwing and yelling like a madman, "I'm going to give it a shot! You son of a bitch!" He's all in on the game.Success, stardom, and fortune all depend on this throw. In the Nihai Club, Toby was already dressed up and sitting there quietly waiting. It's time for the show, and the comedian hasn't arrived yet.The owner of the club began to yell, "Did you hear that? If that bastard doesn't come this time, he'll never be in my club again!" "It's not your fault," said Miley, "but you're lucky. There's a comedian sitting in the bar. He's just come from New York."

"What? Where?" The owner of the club looked at Toby: "My God, where is his nanny? He's still a child!" "He's amazing!" Jerry said.She does think so. "Try it," Miley said, "what else are you afraid of?" "I'm afraid of offending those damn customers!" However, he still shrugged and walked over to where Toby was standing. "So you're a comedian, huh?" "Yes," Toby replied casually, "I just came from a jazz concert in the Catskills." The owner of the club looked him over again. "How old are you?"

"Twenty-two," Toby lied. "Bullshit. Come on, go try it. But you ain't gonna make it to twenty-two if you screw up." And just like that, Toby Temple's dream finally became a reality.He's in the spotlight, and the band is bragging about him.The audience, his audience, sat there waiting to see him come on, to cheer him on.He felt a thrill.There seemed to be a blockage in his throat.He was so excited that now he seemed to have become one with the audience, a wonderful, magic rope had tied him to the audience.At that moment, he thought of his mother.He hoped that no matter where she was, she could see him, and see him performing here.The band stopped playing.Toby begins his opening remarks:

"Good evening, fellow lucky viewers! My name is Toby Temple. I suppose you all know your own names, too." There was silence. He went on to say, "Did you hear about the new boss of the Chicago Mafia? He's a phony, and he's gay. So now this gang can destroy people in the middle of a meal and a dance." gone." No one laughed, they all looked at him coldly and hostilely.At this moment, Toby began to feel the claws of fear on his belly.Suddenly, he was sweating all over.The wonderful bond between him and the audience was broken. He went on: "I just performed a contract in a theater in Maine. This theater is far away. Far away. It's in the middle of the woods and the manager is a big bear."

There was silence.The audience hated him. "Nobody told me it was a deaf conference. I felt like I was a social conductor on the Titanic. I'm standing here on a gangplank, but there's no ship ahead." The audience started booing.Two minutes after Toby spoke, the owner of the club hastily gestured to the playing team, who increased their volume to drown out Toby's words.He stood there with a smile on his face and tears in his eyes. He wanted to shout to them. It was the cry that woke Mrs. Zinski.The shout was loud and fierce, and it seemed a little strange in the quiet night.It was not until Mrs. Zinski sat up in her bed that she realized that it was Josephine's cry.She hastened to the room, where she furnished a nursing room.She wrapped Josephine so tightly that the baby was blue with convulsions.A resident doctor at the hospital prescribed an intravenous sedative for the baby, so the baby fell asleep peacefully.But Dr. Wilson, who delivered Josephine, gave her another thorough examination and found nothing wrong.However, he was not at ease.He couldn't forget the clock on the wall.

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