Chapter 11 Chapter Eleven

The day has come for Harvard Professor Quackenbusch to perform opera in his class.The scene we're going to play is King Lear takes his fool out into the heather, kind of like a swamp or a field at home, and then the storm hits and they all run into a shabby house called a hut . There's a guy in the hut called Crazy Tom Oberlin, but he's actually a guy named Egga pretending to be a lunatic because he got raped by his bastard brother.Meanwhile, the king is completely insane by this time, and Aika is pretending to be a lunatic, and the fool is of course behaving like a fool.I was playing the Earl of Gloucester, and he was Egga's father, and he was a normal guy compared to all these other grotesque characters.

Professor Quackenbusch has used a blanket or something as a hut, and he's got a wind machine to make the sound of a storm - a giant electric fan with strips of paper clipped with clothespins on the fan blades.Anyway, here comes Elmer Harrington III as King Lear, wearing a sack and a colander on his head.The girl who played the Goofy got a Goofy costume from somewhere, with little bells attached to her cap and those Arab shoes with the turned-up toes.The guy who played Tom O'Brien found a "shabby" wig and some clothes from the dump and smeared his face with dirt.They are all serious about this drama.

I'm probably the best looking one of the bunch because Jenny actually sat down and sewed me a costume out of a sheet and a comb that looked like a diaper and she made me a shawl out of a doily , like the ones Superman wears. Anyway, Professor Quackenbusch turned on his wind machine and told us to start on page twelfth of the play, where Mad Tom tells his tragic story. "Please give poor Tom the boogeyman infestation!" said Tom. King Lear said: "Huh? Did his daughter make him fall to Siye? Did you fail to save a tile? Did you give it all to others?" The fool said, "Oh, he has left a blanket, otherwise we will all be ashamed."

The nonsense continued for a while, and then the fool said, "This freezing night will make fools and madmen of us all." The idiot was right. About this time I was supposed to enter the hut with a torch which Professor Quackenbusch had borrowed from the drama department.The Fool cried, "Look! There's a flickering fire!" So the Professor lit my torch, and I walked across the classroom and into the hut. "This is the demon Fliberty Gilbert." Tom Oberan said. "Who is he?" asked the king. I said, "Who are you all? What is your last name?"

Mad Tom says he's just a "poor Tom, feeds on water frogs, toads, tadpoles, lizards..." and all that shit, and then I'm supposed to recognize the king all of a sudden and say, "Why, Your Majesty Is there no good servant?" Mad Tom replied, "The Prince of Darkness is a gentleman—his name is Maudou, and also Mahu." That's when the wind machine came on wildly, and I guess Professor Quackenbusch didn't take into account my height of 2'2" when he built the hut, because the head of my torch hit the ceiling. Mad Tom should have said, "Poor Tom, cold to the bone," but what he said was, "Watch out for the torches!"

I looked down at the script to see where the line came from, but Elmer Harrington III said to me, "Watch out for the torches, you idiot!" —You are!" Then the roof of the hut catches fire, falling on Mad Tom's "shabby" wig, and setting it ablaze. "Turn off that damn fan!" someone yelled, but it was too late.Everything burns! Mad Tom yelled and yelled, and King Lear took off his colander and put it on Mad Tom's head to put out the fire.The classroom was jumping around, coughing and choking and cursing, and the girl who played the fool went hysterical and screamed, "We're all going to burn!"

I turned my head to look behind, and my quilt was actually on fire, so I pushed open the window, hugged the idiot by my waist, and the two jumped out together.The window was only two stories high, and there was a pile of bushes on the ground to prevent our fall, but it was lunch time and there were hundreds of people walking in the courtyard.And we are covered in fire and smoking. Black smoke billowed from the open classroom window, and suddenly, Professor Quackenbush leaned out of the window, pumped his fists and looked around, his face covered in soot, "Forrest Gump, you fucking idiot— You idiot! You will pay the price!" he roared.

The fool was crawling on the ground, howling, wringing her hands, but she was alright - just slightly burnt - so I just ran away, running as fast as I could across the campus, cloak still flaming, trailing a trail of smoke.I didn't stop until I got home, and I went into the apartment, and Jenny said, "Oh, Gump, how's it going? I bet you did a great job!" And then she had this weird look on her face. "Do you smell burnt?" she asked. "It's a long story!" I said. In short, after that incident, I didn't go to "Idiot Characters in World Literature" anymore, because I have seen enough things.But every night Jenny and I played with Cracked Egg, and all day long we made love, walked, picnicked on the banks of the Charles River, and it was heaven.Jenny wrote a nice song called "Kick Me Hard for Sex" in which I had a five-minute solo.That spring and summer was wonderful, and we went to New York to record a tape with Mr. Faberstein, and a few weeks later he called and said we were going to make an album.Not long after, we got calls all over the place asking us to play in local towns, and with the money Mr. Faberstein paid us, we bought a big bus with beds and all, and hit the road.

Another incident occurred during that time that played a major role in my life.One night, after our first show at "Father Ho," Moses, the drummer for "Cracked Egg," pulled me aside and said, "Forrest, you're a decent guy. However, there is something I want you to try that I think will take your playing to the next level. " I asked what it was.Moses said, "Now," and he gave me a thin cigarette.I told him I don't smoke, thank you.Moses said, "This is no ordinary cigarette, Forrest. There's something in it that expands your realm."

I told Moses I didn't think I needed to expand, but he was a little bit insistent. "At least give it a try," he said.I thought about it, and thought that a cigarette should be harmless, so I tried it. Uh, let me say something: my realm has indeed expanded. The speed of everything seemed to slow down, and the sensibility sharpened.The second show that night was the best show of my life, and I seemed to be a hundred times more musical when I was playing, and after the show, Moses said to me, "Forrest, you think that's on time?—Wait Try it while you're having sex and you'll know."

I tried it, and he was right about that too.I bought some of these for a few bucks and before I knew it I was using them all day long.The problem is, it seems to make me dumber after a while.I light a joint in the morning and lie in bed all day until I go to a show.At first, Jenny didn't say a word, because everybody knew she took a puff or two herself, but then, one day, she said to me, "Gump, don't you think you've used that thing too much?" "I don't know," I said. "How much is too much?" Jenny said, "It's too much when you're using it." But I don't want to quit.Somehow it got rid of everything I might have been tempted to do, but there was nothing to worry about during that time.In the evening, during the breaks between performances, I would sit on the back steps of the "He Daddy's Club" and look up at the stars.If there are no stars in the sky, I still look up.One night Jenny came out and found me looking up at the rain. "Forrest, you gotta quit this thing," she said. "I'm worried about you because you're doing nothing but acting and just laying around all day. It's not healthy. I think you need to be away for a while. We'll be out of town after tomorrow, so I thought, Maybe we should go on vacation somewhere. Up the hills, maybe." I just nodded.I'm not even sure I heard her. Well, the next night when I was playing out of town, I found the backstage exit, went outside and lit a joint.I was sitting there by myself, minding my own business, not messing with anyone, when two girls came up.One of them said, "Hey, aren't you the harmonica player for 'Cracked Egg'?" I nodded and she sat on my lap.The other girl grinned and yelped, taking off her coat suddenly.The one on my lap was trying to unzip my pants and pull up her skirt, and I was just sitting there with a heavy head.The backstage door suddenly opened, and Jenny shouted, "Forrest Gump, it's time..." She stopped abruptly, and immediately said, "Smell, bastard." Then slam the back door. I just jumped up, the girl on my lap rolled to the ground, and the other cursed.I walked into the club and Jenny was crying against the wall.I walked over, but she said, "Stay away from me, you bastard! You men are all the same, just like dogs - you don't respect anyone!" I've never felt so bad.I don't remember much about the last show of our show.On the way back, Jenny went to the front of the bus and wouldn't say a word to me.She slept on the couch that night, and the next morning she said maybe I should find a place to live on my own.So I packed my things and left.My head hangs low.I couldn't explain it to her, there was nothing I could do.Was kicked out again. After that, Jenny left.I asked everywhere, but no one knew where she had gone.Moses said I could share a nest with him and move there when I found a place, but it was so lonely during that time.Since we don't have any gigs right now and nothing to do, I figured maybe I'd go home and visit my mom, maybe go to Bob's hometown and start a shrimp business.Maybe I wasn't born a rock star.Maybe, I thought, I'm just an arrogant idiot after all. But one day Moses came home and said he'd been watching TV in a corner tavern and he'd seen Jenny Curran.She was in Washington, he said, at a demonstration against the Vietnam War, and Moses said she should make money with us in Peterson, why bother with that shit? I said I had to see her, and Moses was like, "Well, see if I can bring her back." He said he knew where she probably lived, because a group of Bostonians rented an apartment in Washington to do the protest. War demonstrations. I packed my bag—all my things—thanked Moses, and hit the road.I don't know if I will come back. When I got to Washington, it was a mess.There were cops everywhere, people shouting and throwing things in the street, it was like a riot.The situation looked like it was getting out of hand as the police hit the heads of those throwing objects with batons. I found the address of where Jenny might live and walked over there, but no one was home.I waited on the doorstep for a long time, and at about nine o'clock in the evening, a car stopped at the door, and several people got out of the car, and she was among them! ' I got up and walked over to her, but she turned and ran back to the car.The others, two guys and a girl, they didn't know what to do, they didn't know who I was, but one of them said, "Listen, if I wouldn't be messing with her now - she's very upset. " I asked why, and the guy pulled me aside and told me what the hell: Turns out Jenny just got out of jail.She was arrested yesterday and stayed overnight in the women's prison. This morning, before anyone had time to bail her out, the people in the prison actually said that there might be lice in her hair, because it was too long and so on. The hair was cleanly shaved.Jenny is bald now. Well, I think she didn't want me to see her like this, because she got in the back of the car and lay on her stomach.So I crawled over on all fours so I wouldn't see what was in the window, and I said, "Jenny—it's me, Forrest." She didn't say a word, so I told her I regretted what had happened earlier.I said I would never take medicine again.I also no longer participate in orchestra performances, because there are too many bad temptations.I also said I was sad her hair was shaved.Then I crawled back to the luggage area on the doorstep and got my soldier hat out of the canvas bag and climbed back to the car and put it on a stick and put it through the window.She took her hat and put it on, and then she got out of the car and said, "Oh, don't lie on the ground, you big fool, and go into the house." We sat down and talked for a while, and the other guys smoked weed and drank beer, but I didn't touch any of it.They were discussing what to do tomorrow, because there was going to be a massive demonstration on Capitol Hill, and a group of Vietnam War veterans took off their medals on the spot and threw them on the steps of Capitol Hill.Jenny suddenly said: "Do you know that this Forrest Gump was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor?!" The people present immediately fell silent, looked at me and then at each other, and one of them said, "Jesus Christ has given us a A present!" Uh, Jenny walked into the living room the next morning, and I was sleeping on the couch, and she said, "Gump, I want you to come with us today, and I want you to wear a military uniform." I asked why, and she said, "Because you want Go do something and stop the misery in Vietnam." So I put on my military uniform, and after a while Jenny brought a bunch of chains I bought at a nearby hardware store and said, "Gump, wrap these chains around you .” I asked why again, but she said, "Just do it, you'll find out later. You want to make me happy, don't you?" So, we set off like this.In my uniform and chains, I followed Jenny and the others.It was a clear day, and we got to Capitol Hill, and there was a mob outside, and TV cameras, and all the police in the world.Everyone was singing, yelling, and giving the police the middle finger.After a while, I saw some other guys in Army uniforms, and they got together, and one by one, they went up to get as close as they could to the steps of the Capitol Hill, and they took off their medals and threw them out.Some of these people are in wheelchairs, some are broken, and some are missing arms and legs.Some of them just tossed the medal on the steps, but others really threw it hard.Someone tapped me on the shoulder and said it was my turn.I looked back at Jenny, she nodded, and I walked forward alone. It got a little quiet and then someone announced my name on a megaphone and said I was going to throw away the Congressional Medal of Honor to show my support for ending the Vietnam War and everyone applauded and I could see the other medals lying on the steps.Above this chaotic scene, on the balcony of the Capitol, there was a small group of people standing there, a few police officers and a few guys in suits.Well, I thought I gotta do my best, so I took the medal off, and I looked at it again, and I thought of Bob and those experiences, and Dan, and at that moment, I couldn't figure out what it was, but there was something The feeling came over me, but I had to throw it, so I stretched my arms back and threw the medal as hard as I could.Two seconds later, a guy in a suit on the balcony fell down inexplicably. Unfortunately, I threw the medal too far and hit him on the head. Now the scene is chaotic.The police rushed into the crowd, people shouted all kinds of words, tear gas exploded, and then suddenly five or six policemen jumped on me and beat me with batons.Another group of police came running, and the next thing I knew I was handcuffed, thrown into a police van, and taken to jail. I spent the night in the jail, and in the morning they came to take me before the judge.I have had this experience. Someone told the judge that I was charged with "assault with a dangerous weapon - a medal - and resisting arrest", etc., and handed the judge a piece of paper. "First of all," said the judge, "did you know you hit the United States Senate recorder over the head with your medal?" I didn't say a word, but it seems that this time I got into a big disaster. "Mr. Kimball," said the judge, "I don't understand how a man of your stature, a man who has served his country so well, can mess with a bunch of sloppy, medal-throwing fellows, but I tell you, I'm going to hand you over to Thirty days of psychological observation to see if they can figure out why you acted in such an idiotic way." They took me back to my cell, and after a while put me on a bus to take me to St.Elizabeth Mental Hospital. Finally, I was "locked up".