Sections Above and Below This Page:

Civil was as Rite Rite cleans up for year or more--i.e. R. Reagon now as governor has already appointed Big Business/man as Labor Commisioner, Welfare Chief is a Lawyer who opposed welfare, State Conservator (redwoods) is a big lumberman; real estate czar is supposed to be fare housing crusader, as Clemency Sect., and ex-D.A. who favored capital punishment--get the idea?--then, late '68--not slow, but fast adjustment as new awakening spreads throughout our culture--meantime, watch out, fishes coming to the surface are to be caught--hooked if your beard's long or hair more than 3 inches. all emotion, no reason, etc. etc.

Many hip folk thought that same way at the time, which was why the Communication Company was printing up the note. After they completed running it off, Emmett got Claude and Chester to take him over to see Warren Hinckle III at his house, so he could find out whether the editors of Ramparts were writing a serious, investigative report on "hippiedom" or just using the fashionable popularity of anything "hip" to boost their circulation and pocket more subscriptions.

Claude and Chester were an odd couple but appeared made for each other, working well together. Claude was a Topanga Canyon beat from Los Angeles who seemed to be trying to wear out his black Mennonite clothing and extra-wide-brimmed, flat, highcrowned, western-style hat--the kind worn by morticians in the Old West. To add to his graveyard look, he sported thick, blacklensed glasses to partially correct his near blindness, and at the same time, prevent anyone from seeing his eyes. He was only a little over twenty but was married to a pleasant womall nearly twice his age, and even though he seldom talked, he made most people laugh just by being around. He was also a slick hustler and a talented mechanic, skillfully maintaining the mimeograph machines that had been bought on time from the Gestetner Corporation but never paid for, leaving their repair entirely up to him.

Chester, on the other hand, didn't have any mechanical ability and was too obvious to be a good hustler. He was in his early forties, but the speed with which he carried out most of his activities gave him a much older look. His frequently haggard appearance blended in with the prevailing taste of the youthful "hippies" and none of them ever called him "Pops." Being a veteran of the "underground culture movement," though, he might have enjoyed and probably would have nurtured such a fatherly ta~. He also considered himself [end page 312]