What Are These Goddamn Animals?

Tom Waits: Nighthawks at the Diner

Tom Waits: The Heart of Saturday Night

We were somewhere
around Barstow
on the edge
of the desert
when the drugs
began to take hold.
I remember
saying something
like I feel
a bit lightheaded;
maybe you
should drive...
And suddenly
there was
a terrible roar
all around us
and the sky was full
of what looked
like huge bats,
all swooping
and screeching
and diving
around the car,
which was going

about a hundred
miles an hour
with the top down
to Las Vegas.
And a voice
was screaming:
Holy Jesus!
What are these
goddamn animals?
Then it was quiet again.
My attorney had
taken his shirt off
and was pouring
beer on his chest,
to facilitate
the tanning process.
What the hell
are you yelling about?
he muttered,
staring up at the sun
with his eyes closed
and covered
with wraparound
Spanish sunglasses.
I hit the brakes and aimed the Great Red Shark
toward the shoulder of the highway.
No point mentioning those bats, I thought.
The poor bastard will see them soon enough.
--Hunter S. Thompson