Chapter 13 Summary

The group finally connects with Cody in his living room as he sits over a game of chess, although no one has time to join him for a complete game. Kerouac describes his and Cody's mutual dismay that they haven't been able to connect and catch up since the days of On the Road. Kerouac tells the story of how Cody was arrested by undercover cops when he was trying to trade two joints for a ride to work and spent two years in San Quentin Penitentiary with a murderer, and how Cody hasn't been hardened by it at all, but seems still more childlike. In fact, both Dave Wain and Stanley Popovich take to him right away.

Kerouac recounts the story of how he was scheduled to go to San Quentin and talk to the religious class, but got drunk the night...