Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hustler with a Heart of Gold
ROBERT CAMPBELL
Huncke was a hustler. He had this one scam he would do often. I would run into
him on the sidewalk in front of the Chelsea.
“Hey, Huncke, how are you doing?”
“Well I'm doing pretty good,” he would say, “There's this magazine that's go-
ing to publish one of my stories, but I've got to send them nineteen dollars to get
it published.” And he'd show me an envelope with two or three dollars in it.
“Okay, no problem, Huncke.”
I pulled out the money I had, a few dollars, ten dollars or whatever, and gave
it to him. He would keep it up on the street for a couple of hours with anyone
who would pay attention to him. But he got me that time! I mean, what kind of
magazine
charges
its writer to publish his work? It tends to work the other way
around. Huncke would take that money and use it however he wanted, probably
to buy dope. He was truly a scammer. That's one thing that discouraged me about
living that way. Huncke's attitude was like “Live for the moment—don't worry
abouttomorrow.”Whenyoulivelikethat,youjusthavetoscameveryday.Itgets
incredibly old.
Another time, Huncke came over to my room.
“Hey,”hesaid.“Youwantsomedope?”HehadsomeDOA,thiskindofheroin
that would barely get you high—very weak stuff.
I said, “No, no Huncke.”
But Huncke knew I was a wild, partying guy. So he would say okay and leave
my room. Then an hour later, he'd call me on the telephone.
“Hey Robert, this is Huncke. You want anything?” He meant the heroin.
“No,Huncke.Thanksalot,man.”Andhekeptoncalling,hourafterhour.Fin-
ally, at about eleven o'clock at night, he wore out my resistance.
“Yeah, Huncke,” I told him when he called again. “How fast can you get over
here?”
PAUL VOLMER
Huncke was more than just a hustler. He hustled as a means to an end. There's
alsoacodeamonghustlers,acodeofhonorthatsaysyouwon'thustleoneofyour
friends. Let's put it this way: among the brotherhood of Bohemians, you're not
going to rip off your Bohemian friends. Plus, a good hustler's skills work out for
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