 |
     |
 |
       |
 |
    |
 |
    |
 |
    |
 |
      |
Receive no more
telephone calls
from telemarketers
selling junk.
| Further Phoenix at Rio's Attic:  Hawaii Jimmy Reardon Al Reardon Chicago Faye Reardon Linus Spaulding Fred Roberts Lisa Bentwright Denise Hunter Toby Reardon Rosie Reardon |
| |||||||||||||
|   | ||||||||||||
"I spotted two girls who were trying to read each other's minds. The pretty one, in pig-tails, flicked her ash on my shoe, so I figured that was an indication of something."
|
|
Seventeen-year-old Jimmy Reardon lives in the suburbs of Chicago with his brother, sister, mother, and dominating father in 1962. He writes poetry as a hobby and just about manages to hold down a small job working for Linus Spaulding as a photographer's apprentice. Strong minded, and willing to do whatever it takes to get what he wants, Jimmy is both selfish and sexually irresponsible. "Your God-damn pecker leads you around like a mule chasing a carrot!" shouts his friend Fred Roberts. Jimmy's regular girlfriend is Lisa Bentwright, the daughter of a wealthy middle-class Chicago family and it is she who is the inspirational source for much of Jimmy's poetry. Lisa is aware of her boyfriend's sexual activities but reluctantly tolerates the situation as she herself is not yet ready for such a relationship, much to Jimmy's frustration. Instead, Jimmy secretly makes regular visits to another girl his age, Denise Hunter, who satisfies his desires with an assortment of role-playing, sexual fantasies. Jimmy's father always intended that his eldest son would follow him in his own footsteps and attend the business school of McKinley college. Being an all-boys school, Jimmy describes McKinley as a "monastery" and would much prefer to attend Western, Illinois instead. That is, of course, until Lisa announces that she will be going to college in Hawaii. Not wanting to be separated from her, Jimmy devotes all his time and energy to obtaining money for an air ticket so he can fly out with his girlfriend and begin a new life with her in Hawaii. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Jimmy's life was turned upside down when he discovered that his father was being unfaithful. After this revelation, both father and son quickly reached a new understanding and Al Reardon accepted his son's decision to relocate to Hawaii. By then though, Jimmy has no intention of travelling to Hawaii as his relationship with Lisa had finally broken up. He decided he would attend McKinley after all.
"Lisa thought it was cute when I took her to the 'No Exit' Café instead of one of those downtown restaurants where the rich-race went. She didn't understand. It was neither cute nor romantic - it was poverty."
 Previous Page |  Next Page |
| Phoenix Profiles | Rio's Attic Home Page |