- Railroad Standard Time
“The big railroad watch, Elgin.” (Page 1)
What is a railroad watch?
“Rows and rows of Chinamans learning English in a hurry from Daffy Duck.” (Page 4)
I did not know Warner Brothers produced media to teach people English.
“The watch ticked against my heart and pounded my chest as I went too fast over bumps in the night and the radio on, on an all-night run down coast, down country, down old Highway 99, Interstate 5, I ran my grandfather’s time down past road signs that caught a gleam in my headlights and came at me out of the night.” (Page 5)
The watch went all the adventures that the person in this story went on.
“The dinner would most likely be in a Chinese restaurant in Frisco.” (Page 6).
Where is Frisco?
2. The Eat and Run Midnight People
I really like the imagery conjured up in this story.
“She’s been locked up all her life and never saw anything like me before.” (Page 11)
I am assuming this means she has been in jail a long time.
“At a certain time of morning all railyards come to this moment of peculiar quiet, of muttering dark iron, locomotives going nowhere at all.” (Page 16)
This nice and peacefully quiet.
“In this space, this quiet and time of the morning, this stillness governed by the internal motion of great engines standing still, the flight of pigeons seems an event.” (Page 20).
There probably is not too many moments of peace and quiet when working for a railroad company.
3. The Chinatown Kid
“The skin was diaphanous; he knew his skin, was personally acquainted with his skin, but real.” (Page 24)
What does diaphanous mean?
“A blue hint of light and the louder sound of hissing and clicking and the sensation of warmth was her head, was her oily Mexican hair, her mongrel eyes neither Oriental nor Mexican, her flat baby’s nose, hardly perceptible cheeks with a prophecy of highness, all dark, four year old young, aging quality whiskey of sleeping unpredictable girl.” (Page 25)
This is very descriptive and I can see the person in my mind who they are describing.
“Finally the wedding in a converted grocery store.” (Page 28)
Is this a tradition of certain families because I have never heard of any getting married in a grocery store, it seems like an odd place to get married.
“Another glimpse of his sister, sad and enduring woman at the head of the table surrounded by her children and grandchildren and her walls cluttered with pictures of herself and her children taken at various times of day.” (Page 35)
What a sad but powerful image this conjures up because it is someone who has lived a full life surrounded by her whole family knowing that her time left is running out.
- The Only Real Day
“The men played mah-jong or passed the waterpipe, their voice low under the sound of the fish pumps thudding into the room from the tropical fish store.” (Page 41)
I am thinking mah-jong is a card game and the waterpipe is something that you smoke.
“Then he stood and listened to the sound of the train’s steel wheels, the sound of an invisible cheering crowd being sucked after the lights of the train toward the end of the line, leaving quiet street and more quiet and Yuen almost superstitiously anxious.” (Page 45)
This is another powerful image and I really enjoy the sound of trains.
“He got a letter form the American immigration, and he took the letter to Jimmy Chan, who reads government stuff well and Jimmy said that the Immigration wanted to know how he came into the country and wanted to know if he was sending money to Communists or not.” (Page 48)
This must be in the time of the Cold War if that that last statement is a concern.
“Chinatown was very warm and the streets smelled of vegetables and snails set out in front of the shops.” (Page 66)
Are snails something that the Chinese culture eat?
“Immigration people want him fingerprinted, photographed and a copy of his record.” (Page 73)
I wonder if this is still what immigration offices do when they want to see if someone is here legally.
- Yes, Young Daddy
The first half of this story appears to be all letters written back and forth between Lena and Dirigible.
There is a lot of slang talk it seems in this story.
“And looked down at Dirigible, dressed in her dead husband’s bathrobe.” (Page 89)
Why was Dirigible wearing her dead husband’s bathrobe?
Dirigible seems to regret going to meet Lena.
- Give the Enemy Sweet Sissies and Women to Infatuate Him, and Jades and Silks to Blind Him with Greed
“The rain was thorough. The shattered water came glistening fishscales, down, gigantic noisy tin and silver dandruff crashing out of nowhere in a constant, hypnotic, illogical noise people ceased to hear.” (Page 92)
This sounds like the people in this celebration are in a rain storm.
“He felt her curling inside her clothes, felt her going warm as if she were tucked into bed and taking him with her like a precious toy.” (Page 95
This is a very vivid analogy.
I like the part where Dirigible goes over everything that he is thinking about when Sharon asks him.
There is nothing worse than having wet clothes and especially wet socks.
- A Chinese Lady Dies
“Mount Up Boys? It’s time to ride.” (Page 109)
I feel like this story is going to take place in the old west or at the very least involve cowboys.
“The banners draped across Washington Street in front of the signs were useless in the deserted morning.” (Page 111)
Does this story take place before the other one? The other story started with everyone celebrating New Years.
“As a cripple in a wheelchair, she played more and more at being an old woman.” (Page 113)
I think this is the lady who is going to die.
Is Goong Hai Fot Choy Chinese for happy New Year?
- The Sons of Chan
The Radio seems very sentimental to the character in this story.
The story talked about in this story actually happened and Charlie Chan was a character created by Earl Derr Biggers.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlie_Chan
The person in this story appears to be an actor.
“I am Charlie Chan’s son.” (Page 140)
This person views Charlie Chan as a father figure.