We then drove into the country. Jerrolds was talking with my father and it appeared they no longer bitterly disliked each other. They did not seem to be friends, but they did appear to be getting along. As my father and Jerrolds talked, I listened to the conversation and inferred that Jerrolds had gone out of the insulation business and that apparently only one or two other insulation companies now remained in Portsmouth in competition with my father's insulation business. Apparently, one of the other companies was investing heavily in insulation machinery, and my father said something about the other company having invested $16,000.

Jerrolds began expressing his pride about having earned considerable money in the insulation business. Apparently, he thought he had done quite well. At one point I thought of asking him if he remembered the old days when I used to buy insulation from him, but I decided not to say anything about it.

I asked Jerrolds if he had sold his insulation machinery and he said no, he had not gone that far. He had kept the machinery, although he himself had actually never owned it. Apparently, he had simply been under a franchise with another company and had rented the machinery from that company. He complained about how restrictive the franchise had been and how it had impeded his ability to function as he had wanted. I asked him if the franchise contained a clause which prohibited his working for other companies. He said it definitely did and I said, "Well, that is absolutely illegal."

I thought about antitrust law and restraint of trade for a minute and said, "Well it would depend on the circumstances of the clause, but it is probably illegal."

As we continued talking, I noticed Jerrolds had reached over and had begun pinching and hurting my leg. I pulled his hand away and told him to stop, but he continued. Finally, I began pinching him back and we pinched each other until I became exasperated and hopped into the back seat. Apparently, that had been what he had wanted. My father said something about "the younger generation."

In the back seat I sat next to another fellow who reminded me somewhat of Lee Seeley (an employee of my father) and somewhat of my friend Jon Wickizer. I fell asleep for a little while and when I awoke, the fellow was still sitting on my right.

I looked out in front of the car and saw the skyline of a large city in the distance, but I could not imagine where we were. I continued looking at it, but I just could not conceive how we had arrived at such a large city with so many tall buildings. It was quite a distance away. Finally, I said, "Either I've been drugged, put to sleep and driven a long distance, or I'm just dreaming."

I did not think I had been drugged and I concluded I was dreaming. That bothered me because I liked the looks of the city and I did not want to be dreaming.

Since I actually wanted to be in the city, I began crying. I lay down on the seat and cried profusely. I thought more about it and hoped I was actually awake instead of dreaming. Everything seemed real. I did not know how everything could appear so real and still be a dream, but I thought I would probably wake up before I reached the city and I would not be able to see it.

The fellow next to me in the back seat said we were probably five miles away from the city. I said no, that it was probably farther than that. He said Waco looked about like that from a distance of five miles. I said, "Jon, this is a much larger city than Waco. It's New Orleans. That's why we're farther away than we think."

I raised myself back up; we had already reached the city and were riding around in the middle of it. I looked around, saw tall, magnificent buildings and thought we were in New Orleans. I was amazed by the tall buildings, but I still had the conviction I was dreaming.