The Hobos

Jay Randall Farnum is a writer. On November 14, 2003 he leaves Reno for Las Vegas. At UNLV he writes an exciting historic screenplay showing how worldwide free enterprise with free trade would have prevented World War II. He begins to promote the story. Running low on money, he gets what seems like a solid job as a magazine editor. The job turns out to be a fraud, and on December 4, he ends up homeless and goes to live in a public men's shelter.

In this new life, Jay meets two tough, well-educated, middle class white guys who become his friends. Despite similarities of background, the three have very different political views, and are able to remain friends only because of a mature commitment to the future, and their agreement that truth is more important than bruised personal feelings. Gene is an upper middle class 1960s style liberal. Mike is a lower middle class dyed-in-the-wool conservative. Jay is the anachronism here, a scholarly middle middle class Libertarian.

Now that he's out and about, Jay begins to see the unworkability of race policy in America. Good intentions cannot supersede natural laws. Every day he witnesses bad racial clashes, almost always initiated by displaced Africans against Caucasians. Whether in restaurants, buses, or computer labs, they are loud, belligerent, and prone to foul language. If any white person politely asks for consideration, he or she is usually insulted or threatened.

Occasionally Jay witnesses loud non viable behavior from Caucasians, usually spousal arguments, but this is so infrequent that it can easily be dealt with on an individual basis. The ongoing torrential flow of foulness from Africans, however, needs to be dealt with generically like any other issue of public health or safety. Simple moral integrity and the right to joyful living demand it.

Jay struggles with the fact that, although he likes or loves some Africans as individuals, as a race, they simply don't belong in America. Back home they could develop at their own rate with no need to blame anyone. Just because slavery was wrong, and people have the right to be free, doesn't mean that displaced Africans should be allowed to interfere with the destiny of European Americans.

Jay also notices that the huge throngs of Hispanics are not part of American society at all, and don't even want to be. He wonders why the United States should become overpopulated and ruined culturally by this tidal wave of immigration from the south just to make a few wealthy industrialists wealthier with cheep labor.

The money men don't care what they do to America. They can travel anywhere and enjoy the unspoiled places. Jay knows that someday he will have to write a book to help speed worldwide free enterprise so that all nations will prosper and be able to accept the return of displaced kinsmen.

Garrett Valdison meets Jay at UNLV and agrees to make his WWII screenplay into a movie. He also asks Jay to write another story about his local adventures. They fool around with loglines: "From the squalid hobo camps of North Las Vegas to the glittering hotel casinos of the Las Vegas Strip, three tough middle-class buddies, exhausting themselves daily with beautiful women, slowly fight their way back to a decent life, and way beyond!"

Garrett and Jay stay in touch.