It's a Long Way from Home
High School: Grades 9–12
Story
 was one of the popular clubs of the post-Stroll era.'))
The Stroll. Louis had read about it in the Chicago Defender but had never dreamed that such a place really existed. There were movie theaters, vaudevilles, cabarets; the sidewalks were teeming with people walking shoulder-to-shoulder.9 You could have ice cream in a fancy shop called a parlor or could eat chili or something as exotic as chop suey in a restaurant.10 There were lots of guys and girls. Everyone was whooping it up and laughing. And the light! There weren't just streetlights like Louis thought there would be in the city.11 The signs of the cabarets, vaudevilles and movie theaters were surrounded by little round bulbs, illuminating the pleasures to be found inside. It was so bright it was like the middle of day at midnight.
The buildings where people lived were all brick. One building was next to the other, and one floor was stacked on top of the one below. But the most amazing thing was the sound he heard coming out of some apartments. It wasn't the slow, sad blues he was used to hearing back home. This music was running fast and was getting ready to go faster. There were banjos, a piano, and horns. Louis recognized the sounds of a banjo strumming. But he had never heard the brassy sounds of the saxophone and cornet.12 The piano sounded like someone was rolling his fingers up and down the keys. Then suddenly a horn would burst on the scene and take the music in another direction. Robert looked at Louis and said, "Boy, close your mouth, try not to look like what you really are—a farm boy. We are going into this building here; we are going to blow it down!"13
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Inside the apartment young men and women were dancing and laughing. Louis remembered Aunt Celia pointing her finger at him and telling him to be a good boy. He didn't see anybody over the age of 25. A guy came up to Robert and put out his hand. "Hand me that skin,14 Robert. Listen to this record of the King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band.15 Old Satchel Mouth is really laying down some hot licks!"16 He pointed at Louis's hat. "What kind of lid is that?"17 Louis could feel the blood rushing to his face. The hat was rumpled around the edges. He took it off.
"Don't pay any attention to him," Robert said. "He's my cousin from Mississippi. Pay up, Louis. Put some cash in that hat over there."
Money? Louis wondered why he should put money in the hat. Robert saw the bewildered look on his face and leaned over and said, "It's a rent party.18 We get to hear the newest jazz record by the King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band,19 have some giggle-water,20 and meet some girls. In return we help the guy pay his rent. It's no big deal, it happens all the time. Some rent parties have guys playing real pianos! Just put some money in the hat and start enjoying yourself." Giggle-water? He meant have some alcohol.
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