Beat pick-up lines

Day 37 of The Beat Handbook is titled "On Pick-Up Lines." It is based on this passage from On The Road (my version, 1976):

“’What do you want out of life?’ I asked, and I used to ask that all the time of girls” (p. 57).

The Kerouaction from p. 91 in my book is as follows:

"Here is the quintessential beat pick-up line. This question has two purposes. One is obvious and I don’t need to belabor it here. But the other is to probe for depth. That is, has this person a larger purpose? Asked the big questions? Decided to live passionately?"

And the suggested Kerouactivity:

"Craft an alternative pick-up line for future reference."

Last night we were listening to Katie Webber singing at Hallowell and Vine. It's a new bistro in town that serves wine and beer and food and often has music. What's unique about the place is that it actually takes up half of a commercial space, the other half being a retail space featuring women's handbags, jewelery, and associated bling. Kind of weird. The only separation between the two spaces is the counter for the retail space. So you sit there in a bistro drinking wine (in our case English ale) and listening to music and if you look left you see an entire wall taken up by a lighted display case full of jewelry and handbags.

Last night our beat friend Jim was sitting at our table. A friend of his joined us. He said this place was great for old guys like him because now he had a new pick-up line: "Hey, wanna get a couple of drinks and a handbag?"

How funny is that?