CONTINUED

vacation. "She said 'let's get married'. "He was drunk and did. "Paid $55 for each ring . . . gold bands. It lasted nine months. We were better off living common law.” He wanted to talk more and joined our party, from bar to bar.

Hobby, a big ape-like guy built like Mr. America, is dancing alone and snapping his fingers to the music. A fat blonde, not more than 19, who had been sipping sloe gin, staggers by and falls into the wall. She is almost out. Hobby's big arm encircles her like a baby as he helps her back to the bar. He babies her and asks for a cool, wet rag. He dabs her forehead gently until she revives, takes another drink and gets up to dance with him.

The juke is blaring “Don't Come Home Drinkin' With Lovin' on Your Mind" and "D-1-V-O-R-C-E." The bar owner is dancing behind the bar to each number. The Rev. digs the country music; says he finds a lot of message in the lyrics.

Then he teases Duane about sleeping out in California. "Bull! No more orange groves. All freeways and car lots and 'conmindims' and apartments.'

"

We break out of the smoky, narrow bar into the neon night jungle of W. 25th and climb into The Rev.'s car. He reaches into the glove compartment for a bottle of eyedrops and leans back to use them. Occupational hazard, that bar smoke. Then he turns on the police radio fitted onto his steering wheel. We cruise and listen. Not much action tonight. But one night The Rev. followed the police to a suicide attempt. Too many pills. He showed his West Side Methodist Parish card to the police. The husband and friends invited him upstairs while the woman was taken to the hospital. "They began to talk about her problems and then all their problems. Beer cans were stashed all over the place. I was caught in a cluster of families, all with overwhelming problems. They were very open and wanted help. They asked me to see the woman at the psychiatric institute. I did several times."

The Rev. also talked a 48-yearold practicing homosexual into going to a psychiatrist, and discussed the same problem with a coffee house waitress. Her teenage son had been accosted by a homosexual who had given him a ring. The mother finally accosted the man and told him to leave her son alone. He has. "She is very perceptive and helpful," The Rev. says. "She counsels with a lot of people. She once did a handwriting analysis of my signature. It was very close to fact.'

"

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