Part II: Chapter 9 Summary

Chapter 9 begins with an editor's note (written, of course, by Thompson himself), stating that the narrator, who uses the moniker "Dr. Duke," breaks down to the point that his manuscript becomes temporarily indecipherable. What follows, therefore, is the verbatim transcription of the tape recordings Dr. Duke made throughout his journey.

Thompson/Duke and his attorney stop at a taco stand, where they haggle with the waitress over the menu and try to obtain directions to Boulder City. They tell her they are in search of the American Dream. The waitress assumes that the American Dream is a place, perhaps the site of what was called the Psychiatrist's Club, where drug pushers and stoned kids spend their time. It is not, asserts the short-order cook, the place they are looking for, but he gives them directions anyway and the two...