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Dear Trout Fishing in America:
I met your friend Fritz in Washington Square. He told me to tell you that his case went to a jury and that he was acquitted by the jury.
He said that it was important for me to say that his case went to a jury and that he was acquitted by the jury, so I've said it again.
He looked in good shape. He was sitting in the sun. There's an old San Francisco saying that goes: "It's better to rest in Washington Square than in the California Adult Authority."
How are things in New York?
Yours,
"An Ardent Admirer"
Dear Ardent Admirer:
It's good to hear that Fritz isn't in jail. He was very worried about it. The last time I was in San Francisco, he told me he thought the odds were 10-1 in favor of him going away. I told him to get a good lawyer. It appears that he followed my advice and also was very lucky. That's always a good combination.
You asked about New York and New York is very hot.
I'm visiting some friends, a young burglar and his wife. He's unemployed and his wife is working as a cocktail waitress. He's been looking for work but I fear the worst.
It was so hot last night that I slept with a wet sheet wrapped around myself, trying to keep cool. I felt like a mental patient.
I woke up in the middle of the night and the room was filled with steam rising off the sheet, and there was jungle stuff, abandoned equipment and tropical flowers, on the floor and on the furniture.
I took the sheet into the bathroom and plopped it into the tub and turned the cold water on it. Their dog came in and started barking at me.
The dog barked so loud that the bathroom was soon filled with dead people. One of them wanted to use my wet sheet for a shroud. I said no, and we got into a big argument over it and woke up the Puerto Ricans in the next apartment, and they began pounding on the walls.
The dead people all left in a huff. "We know when we're not wanted," one of them said.
"You're damn tootin'," I said.
I've had enough.
I'm going to get out of New York. Tomorrow I'm leaving for Alaska. I'm going to find an ice-cold creek near the Arctic where that strange beautiful moss grows and spend a week with the grayling. My address will be, Trout Fishing in America, c/o General Delivery, Fairbanks, Alaska.
Your friend,
Trout Fishing in America
Richard Brautigan
Trout Fishing in America
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