Literature - 35 - Bauman Rare Books by the devil and figure, with luck, to finish this book now in three weeks. Then we don’t have to worry about nothing. Please keep security on this, too. “Don’t worry about the Finca being empty. It would have been wonderful to have you guys out here as I think it is a good place to live and to work… We plan to be in Europe for some six weeks to two months. Will be in Paris for a little while and then go down to Venice. This is going to be the last year of the great shoot there as the duck marshes are going to be drained for some agrarian reform project… They have mallards, pintail, widgeon, teal, redheads and lots of unknown ducks; all coming down from behind the Iron Curtain and plenty fat. I think they must fly over the Iron Curtain at night. “Everything goes good down here. Mary is up in Chicago checking on her folks who are quite old and she should pay them a visit. Haven’t heard from her yet about how they are because she figures that we are at sea. [(they are ok but her mother too bored with death coming on and too fragile to travel.)] But we had to put back in after six days out because there are about five tropical disturbances forming and kicking around. In the bad weather we stayed at Puerto Escondido, you remember the place where I shot that iguana, and I wrote 5,000 some words while we were holed up. Have been having awfully good luck with it and it goes as fast as when I wrote THE SUN ALSO RISES in six weeks and the day I wrote THE KILLERS in Madrid one morning when it snowed and a story called TEN INDIANS in the afternoon and then couldn’t cool out and wrote TODAY IS FRIDAY in the evening. After that got drunk. The only trouble writing alone here is like pitching with nobody in the stands or making a Hell of a fight to absolutely empty seats. [I wonder why this girl capitalizes Hell. Must be early training.]… Have scrapped about 100,000 words. After all, the test of whether a book is any good is how much good stuff you can remove from it. This also confidential. “… I wake up around 3 or 4 in the morning and go to work and Blackie wakes up very reluctantly because he certainly loves his sleep, and then lies down beside where I amworking… He had a terrible nervous crisis when we made him retrieve a couple of pigeons at the club. He doesn’t believe in hurting anything nor in anything hurting him. [Have got him threw [sic] it and he retrieved 17 then 22 and yest 40. I killed 23 x 25 from 30 meters.]… If you guys need any dough for trip or anything let me know because as soon as book is finished I will stink with it. [or stench with it. But not for long.] “I read the bull book that you wrote about but it didn’t mean anything to me. Know 30 or more better stories than that about bull fighting that will never write. That may sound conceited and it probably is but who the Hell isn’t sometimes? Will tell you three stories when we get together that I know, as samples… “Wish you were here. It is very lonesome. We have a fine new whore in town who has just come in and who really loves the profession. She was cut out for it. But have turned her over to a friend of mine and am sticking it out, that’s probably not the phrase, til Mary gets back. don’t know when that will be yet. Had hoped to stay at sea so as to be a good boy. But this weather has bitched that. It is hard being a good boy alone in this town when you are a lonesome character. “[I had to give in and play the whore and we drank 7 bottles of Roederers Brut ‘42 and fucked all night until it was daylight, both got battle fatigue I guess. Anyway I wrote only 708 words. I speak to whore very slow in English since she wants to learn English like all whores have some project and then translate soft and good in Spanish. There are going to be a lot of complications in Venice and we will have to cover it like Tinker and Johnny Evers. What we need is a third baseman and Hal Clease at 1st. Papa. Maybe we can recall Willie Walton from the American Association to play 3rd. He can’t hit. But he can field (womens)].” Fine condition. An extraordinary Hemingway letter.
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