Response to Thompson's Story (2nd response)

Hunter S. Thompson   The Kentucky Derby Is Decadent and Depraved

This story, as Dr. Williams said, was a little raw, but I found it somewhat enjoyable. It was a little gross and not at all in keeping with my viwes of proper etiquete. However, the very crude narrator kept us engaged and for that, I applaud him. The story starts off with the narrator conversing with a man from Houston called "Jimbo." He went on to say that he was a photographer for Playboy, which made Jimbo laugh. "What are you gonna take pictures of-nekkid horse? Haw! I guess you'll be workin' pretty hard when they run the Kentucky Oaks. That's a race just for fillies..." Jimbo thought he was hot stuf while mocking our narrator. At this, the narrator decided to play dirty. He lies and scares Jimbo by talking about a riot caused by the Black Panthers at the track (on Derby Day). After that, the narrator tries to get a rented car (to no avail) because he planned to pick up a guy named Ralph Steadman (the English illustrator from London) from the airport. That didn't work out and by noon on Friday, the narrator (worried that Steadman won't be able to adjust to the culture shock in Kentucky) is still trying to locate Steadman. Once they find each other, their next task is to obtain two sets of press pickets (which they somehow do). Something that I found really funny was that Steadman had a problem of sketching people he met in the various social situations he was dragged into and giving it to them! That causes problems at the end of this story between one of the narrator's old friends and his wife. The friend had decided that Steadman was after his wife and "the emotional effects were massive." To our narrator's horror, Steadman sketched a picture of her! As the narrator says, "from that point on-we lost all control of events and spent the rest of the weekend churning around in a sea of drunken horrors." pg 166 They stumbled around in a drunken stupor.  After the Derby and the narrator's long sleep, he is shocked at his reflection in the mirror. All during this trip, the two men wanted to find a face that resembled the terrible things that happen on Derby Day (i.e. people vomoiting on themselves, etc) and by the end of this trip, they were the models! All in all, I found this story amusing, in a sad sort of way because I sort of think that's how horse racing would be.