Part 1, Chapters 11 and 12 Summary

Sal travels to San Francisco to find his prep school friend, Remi Boncoeur, in hopes of hopping the ocean liner for a job. Remi had originally dated the girl who would become Sal's wife, but the two men hold no ill will over the situation.

Sal finds Remi living in an old shack in Mill City with a girl named Lee Ann, who is not pleased to have Sal's intrusion into the dilapidated lifestyle she shares with Remi. Sal stays in the shack, nevertheless, and tries to write, which is not very successful, so Remi finds Sal a job as a special policeman at the barracks where he also works.

The job entails policing a barracks of itinerant construction workers at night and Sal is not happy with the requirement of having to make one arrest per month in...