Chapter 2 Summary

When John gets up, he feels hung over from lack of sleep. He arrives to Muddy's in the early afternoon, and Cyndi is basically running the place herself. No one comes in for a while, and John is getting bored and depressed. He leaves Cyndi in charge and leaves to find another bar. He has a policy of never drinking from his own bar.

Memphis in winter is drab and depressing, and as John walks down the street he passes Eddie, an eight-year-old kid who does flips in the street for money. John admonishes Eddie's father for keeping him out of school. He wants to punch him, but he figures the hustler has a gun. John arrives at the Rum Boogie Café, where a curt white kid serves him, making him pay in cash. A woman - a regular at Muddy's - comes...