Dreams of a Kitten by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Dreams of a Kitten

Page 271

Stevie Becomes Nick Carroway

On a quiet moonless night, Stevie the tabby kitten curled up in

his favorite spot on the bed, next to Timmy. He drifted into a

deep, magical sleep. In his dreams, Stevie found himself in the

grand halls of West Egg.

In spring 1922, Stevie; a Yale alumnus from the Midwest,

journeys to New York City to obtain employment as a bond

salesman. He rents a bungalow in the Long Island village of West

Egg, next to a luxurious estate inhabited by Jay Gatsby, an

enigmatic multi-millionaire who hosts dazzling soirées yet does

not partake in them.

One evening, Stevie dines with a distant cousin, Daisy Buchanan,

in the old money town of East Egg. Daisy is married to Tom

Buchanan, formerly a Yale football star whom Stevie knew during

his college days. The couple has recently relocated from Chicago

to a mansion directly across the bay from Gatsby's estate.

There, Stevie encounters Jordan Baker, an insolent flapper and

golf champion who is a childhood friend of Daisy's. Jordan

confides to Stevie that Tom keeps a mistress, Myrtle Wilson, who

brazenly telephones him at his home and who lives in the "valley

of ashes," a sprawling refuse dump. That evening, Stevie sees