Last Days of Summer

Although Banks does everything in his power to dissuade Joey from continued correspondence, the boy obtains his new Manhattan address from a gullible archivist in the ballplayer’s Wisconsin hometown. Conversely, he needs Joey’s help in order to return to Hazel McKay’s good graces. Hints of sympathy for Joey emerge; at one point, Banks sends a photo which he claims to be himself at age 15 in Father Flanagan’s Home for Boys in order to convince Joey that many boys get into trouble. However, Joey recognizes this as a young Mickey Rooney from the movie Boys’ Town, which was popular during this era. Supper clubs such as “Tuxedo Junction,” which Joey asks Banks to bring him to in order to hear Hazel McKay sing, were also popular wartime entertainment venues. In subtle ways, Charlie mellows a bit as Joey loses some of his bravado and reveals some details concerning his family situation; specifically, he relates the story of his long-awaited trip to the World’s Fair with his father and stepmother, Nana Bert. As Joey writes: “[T]they put me on a Ferris wheel but I got stuck at the top […] my Dad gave the Ferris wheel guy $20 for me to take a cab home in case I ever got down again” (62).