Fear and Loating in Las Vegas. A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

Waitress: Yeah I know it, but then that would make it off Paradise around the Flamingo, straight up here. I think somebody’s handed you a

Att’y: We’re staying at the Flamingo. I think this place you’re talking about and the way you’re describing it, I think that maybe that’s it.

Lou: It’s not a tourist joint.

Att’y: Well, that’s why they sent me. He’s the writer: I’m the bodyguard. ’Cause I figure it will be ...

Lou: These guys are nuts ... these kids are nuts.

Att’y: That’s OK.

Waitress: Yeah, they got new laws.

Duke: Twenty-four-hour-a-day violence? Is that what we’re saying?

Lou: Exactly. Now here’s the Flamingo ... Oh, I can’t show you this; I can tell you better my way. Right up here at the first gas station is Tropicana, take a right.

Att’y: Tropicana to the right.

Lou: The first gas station is Tropicana. Take a right on Tropicana and take this way ...right on Tropicana, right on Paradice, you’ll see a big black building, it’s all painted black real weird looking.

Att’y: Right on Tropicana, right on Paradise, black building...

Lou: And there’s a sign on the side of the building that says Psychiatrist’s Club, but they’re completely remodeling it and everything.

Att’y: All right, that’s close enough

Lou: If there’s anything I can do for ya, honey...I don’t know if that’s even it or not. But it sounds like it is. I think you boys are on the right track.

Att’y: Right. That’s the best lead we’ve had for two days, we’ve been asking people all around.

Lou: ...I could make a couple calls and sure as hell find out.

Att’y: Could you?

Lou: Sure I’ll call Allen and ask him.

Att’y: Gee, I’d appreciate that if you could.

Waitress: When you go down to Tropicana, it’s not the first gas station, the second.

Lou: There’s a big sign right down the street here, it says Tropicana Avenue. Make a right, and when you get to Paradice make another right.

Att’y: OK. Big black building, right on Paradise: twenty-four-hour-a-day violence, drugs

Waitress: See, here’s Tropicana, and this is Boulder Highway that goes clear down like that.

Duke: Well, that’s pretty far into town then.

Waitress: Well, here’s Paradise split up somewhere around there. There’s Paradice. Paradise. Yeah, we’re down in here. See, this is Boulder Highway ... and Tropicana.

Lou: Well, that’s not it, that bartender in there is a pothead too...

Att’y: Yeah, well, it’s a lead.

Lou: You gonna be glad you stopped here, boys.

Duke: Only if we find it.

Att’y: Only if we write the article and get it in.

Waitress: Well, why don’t you come inside and sit down?

Duke: We’re trying to get as much sun as we can.

Att’y: She’s going to make a phone call to find out where it Is.

Duke: Oh. OK, well, let’s go inside.

EDITOR’S NOTE (cont.):

Tape cassettes for the next sequence were impossible to transcribe due to

some viscous liquid encrusted behind the heads. There is a certain consistency

in the garbled sounds however, indicating that almost two hours later Dr.

Duke and his attorney finally located what was left of the “Old Psychiatrist’s

Club”—a huge slab of cracked, scorched concrete in a vacant lot full of tall

weeds. The owner of a gas station across the road said the place had “burned

down about three years ago.”

10. Heavy Duty at the Airport ...Ugly Peruvian Flashback . . .”No! It’s Too Late! Don’t Try It!”

My attorney left at dawn. We almost missed the first flight to LA. because I couldn’t find the airport. It was less than thirty minutes from the hotel. I was sure of that. So we left the Flamingo at exactly seven-thirty ... but for some reason we failed to make the turnoff at the stoplight in front of the Tropicana. We kept going straight ahead on the freeway, that parallels the main airport runway, but on the opposite from the terminal ... and there is no way to get across legally.

“Goddamnit! We’re lost!” my attorney was shouting. What are we doing out here on this godforsaken road? The airport is right over there!” He pointed hysterically across the tundra.