"Hi Bucky! Hi Zoot! Hi Freddie! Hi George! Hi Thad! Hi Roy! Hi Dexter! Hi Jo! Hi Willie! Hi Greens!"

"Hokie, you dont have to leave. You can play too. Just move a little over to the side there --"

"I was tired."

"Thats O.K., son. Dont think a thing about it. It happens to the best of us. Or it almost happens to the best of us. Now I want everybody to have a good time because were gonna play Flats. Flats is next."

"No, I got ears. Im not mistaken. Hideo Yamaguchi is the new king of jazz."

"Yes, somebody is getting him a glass of water."

"How bout Smoke?"

"Sounds like Hokie Mokie to me. Those few but perfectly selected notes have the real epiphanic glow."

"What can we add to Hokies fantastic playing?"

"I am Hideo Yamaguchi, from Tokyo, Japan."

"Well I dont think its English."

"Would you repeat that, stranger?"

"Whats that sound coming in from the side there?"

"O.K., you heard what Hideo said, its Cream. You ready, Hideo?"

"Youre my man, Hokie! That was the dadblangedest thing I ever saw!"

"The what?"

"Well, Hideo --"

"Well youre welchttps://read.99csw.comome here until we hear you play. Tell me, is the Tennessee Tea Room still the top jazz place in Tokyo?"

"The left."

"Yes, I imagine its his best tune."

Hes sensational, Hokie thought. Maybe I ought to kill him.

"I did," said his companion.

"You ask him, Im scared. You dont fool around with the king of jazz. That young Japanese guys pretty good, too."

"Bent over like that with his head between his knees -- good God, hes sensational!"

"You think hes playing in Japanese?"

"You did well on both Smoke and Billies Bounce. Youre just about as good as me, I regret to say. In fact, Ive decided youre better than me. Its a hideous thing to contemplate, but there it is. I have only been the king of jazz for twenty-four hours, but the unforgiving logic of this art demands we bow to Truth, when we hear it."

"He refuses to play Smoke! But Hokie Mokie is the king of jazz and he says Smoke!"

Hokie Mokie put his trombone in its trombone case and went to a gig. At the gig everyone fell back before him, bowing.

"Hes sensational."

"Oh, youre one of those Japanese cats, eh?"

"No, the top jazz plahｔtｐs://ｒｅad•９９cｓｗ.cｏｍce in Tokyo is the Square Box now."

"How bout some rain or stars?"

"Ask him if hed mind."

"Good God!"

"Whatre we playing?"

"The real epiphanic glow, such as is obtained only by artists of the caliber of Hokie Mokie, whos from Pass Christian, Mississippi. Hes the king of jazz, now that Spicy MacLammermoor is gone."

"Thats O.K., Hideo. Have a nice day. He-he. Now, Flats. "

"I dont want to play Smoke, " somebody said.

The two men who had been standing under Hokies window had followed him to the club. Now they said:

"Thats what I thought it was. Whatre we in?"

"No, Im just going to fold up my horn and steal away. This gig is yours, Hideo. You can pick the next tune."

"Used to could."

Well Im the king of jazz now, thought Hokie Mokie to himself as he oiled the slide on his trombone. Hasnt been a bone man been king of jazz for many years. But now that Spicy MacLammermoor, the old king, is dead, I guess Im it. Maybe I better play a few notes out of this window here, to reassure myself.

"Maybe thats presumptuous?"

"What we gonna play, Hokie? You the king of jazz now, you gotta decid九-九-藏-書e."

"Thats nice. O.K., now we gonna play Smoke just like Hokie said. You ready, Hokie? O.K., give you four for nothin. One! Two! Three! Four!"

"That young Japanese fellow is pretty good, too."

"Yes, he is pretty good. And he holds his horn in a peculiar way. Thats frequently the mark of a superior player."

"Yes, Mr. Mokie?"

"Hokie Mokie is the most happening thing there is!"

"Maybe youre mistaken?"

"Wow!" said somebody standing on the sidewalk. "Did you hear that?"

"I dont want to play Smoke. Smoke is dull. I dont like the changes. I refuse to play Smoke. "

"Wow!" everybody said. "Did you hear that? Hokie Mokie can just knock a fella out, just the way he pronounces a word. What a intonation on that boy! God Almighty!"

"Man, you from outa town or something? What do you mean you refuse to play Smoke? Howd you get on this gig anyhow? Who hired you?"

"Yes, Mr. Hokie sir, I have to admit it, you blew me right off the stand. I see I have many years of work and study before me still."

"Thats what I thought we were in. Didnt you use to play with Maynard?"

"You want to bread•９9cｓw.ｃoｍe king emeritus?"

" Billies Bounce. "

"Which side?"

"Yes Im the top trombone man in all of Japan."

"Youre the king of jazz once again!"

"Can you distinguish our great homemade American jazz performers, each from the other?"

"Then who was that playing?"

"How bout Cream?"

"With your permission, sir, I will return to my hotel and pack. I am most grateful for everything I have learned here."

"Wow! That was the most exciting Cream ever played! Is Hideo all right?"

"Good God, its Hokie! Even with a cup mute on, hes blowing Hideo right off the stand!"

But at that moment somebody came in the door pushing in front of him a four-and-one-half-octave marimba. Yes, it was Fat Man Jones, and he began to play even before he was fully in the door.

"What for?"

"Hideo is wonderful on Cream!"

"You mean that sound that sounds like the cutting edge of life? That sounds like polar bears crossing Arctic ice pans? That sounds like a herd of musk ox in full flight? That sounds like male walruses diving to the bottom of the sea? That sounds like fumaroles smoking on the slopes of Mt. Katmai? That sounds like the九*九*藏*書 wild turkey walking through the deep, soft forest? That sounds like beavers chewing trees in an Appalachian marsh? That sounds like an oyster fungus growing on an aspen trunk? That sounds like a mule deer wandering a montane of the Sierra Nevada? That sounds like prairie dogs kissing? That sounds like witchgrass tumbling or a river meandering? That sounds like manatees munching seaweed at Cape Sable? That sounds like coatimundis moving in packs across the face of Arkansas? That sounds like --"

"Thank you, Hideo, thats very gracious of you. I guess I will play a little, since Im still here. Sotto voce, of course."

"F."

"Yes, thats Hokies famous English sunrise way of playing. Playing with lots of rays coming out of it, some red rays, some blue rays, some green rays, some green stemming from a violet center, some olive stemming from a tan center --"

This trombones been makin my neck green for thirty-five years, Hokie thought. How come I got to stand up to yet another challenge, this late in life?

"Yeah I was on that band for a while until I was in the hospital."

"Hideos playing on his knees now! Good God, hes reaching into his belt for a large steel sword -- Stop him!"