Book I, Part II - Desolation in the World: Chapters 69 - 72 Summary

A Chinese restaurant beckons, and Kerouac answers. The waitresses watch as the author gets lost in the joy of chow mein noodles, realizing that he will sleep alone tonight. Who would want to sleep with him anyway? At age 34, with dirty jeans and wine on his teeth, Kerouac muses that he's not the most desirable man on earth. Not any more. However, there have been many women, including two wives and hundreds of lovers, "everyone of em betrayed or screwed in some way by me".

Sleep comes but it is a fitful sleep because of the city noises that come through the window of the Skid Row hotel room. Thoughts of Frisco come almost constantly and Kerouac has to admit to himself that...