Big Sur Chapter 16 Summary

  • By three o'clock in the morning Dave and Romana are asleep and Jack is in a car with a next-door neighbor of the mad rooming house in the city.
  • It seems Jack claimed that Cody and Dave were the two greatest drivers in the world, and this kid ("a Bohemian but also a laborer, a housepainter") jumped in and said he was the greatest driver in the world, because he "used to drive the getaway car."
  • So he decided to demonstrate to Jack, which is why they're zooming all over the city at three in the morning.
  • Jack barely remembers his name – "Bruce something or other" – but he decides that, yes, this kid is in fact the greatest driver in the world. Jack never saw him again after that night.