Kapitel 122: Jeremy San Francisco — 1877 Requiem for an Insect

At eighteen, Jeremy leaves home, wandering over to the bay, Beethoven in his backpack. He takes his fiddle with him. He pays for passage with a few coins he has smuggled from home. Once on board he lets the wind and water wash away the past. Beethoven does not make a sound.

Landing at the wharf, the city welcomes him with mist and mystery. But money does not come easily. He tries playing in the train station, but the train derails and the tunnel is evacuated. He does magic tricks near the Ghirardelli Chocolate factory, garnering a few coins. But when a police man, hard black shoes tap, tap, tapping along the cobble stones, asks for Jeremy’s papers and place of abode, he and Beethoven are forced to leave. They spend that night in a misty doorway.

By day, he roams the dock, pulling coins from children’s ears and noses. At night, Beethoven eats the rats that Jeremy stuns with Paganini’s Caprice No. 24.