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Show RTVER looked at the check. It was for almost $275.1 was rich again and decided to take my new-found wealth and buy a guitar. I went back to what was left of Beale Street, the unregenerate part that appeared to defy any attempts at urban renewal. There were half a dozen pawn shops in two blocks, all filled with guitars. I found only one instrument that was really worth playing, a fine old Gibson, and if the pawnbroker would have come down below $3001 probably would have spent all my money on it. I shuffled through the shops till I located the darkest and sleaziest pawn shop on the street. It had an entire back wall covered with acoustic guitars. While I looked them over a salesman oozed up out of the murk. "Want a guitar, huh?" he said. He was lank and pallid, looking as if he'd never seen the sun. He had thinning red hair and wore a plaid sportscoat. His accent was straight out of Chicago and he was apparently a graduate of the Richard Nixon School of Used Car Sales. "Yeah," I said. "I might buy a guitar." He pulled down an ancient Stella and began pointing out its finer qualities, though it didn't have any that I could see. I found a Japanese imitation of a Gibson Hummingbird and a pretty serviceable Harmony. The salesman started lying about the fake Hummingbird. "This guitar's made by Gibson, y'know, only if s got some tiny defect so they don't put the Gibson name on it and they sell it real cheap. Yessir, that's a real guitar, you can't go wrong for the money, I guarantee." "This guitar is made in Japan," I said. "Sure," he said. "All guitars are made in Japan these days." -189- |