The trip over to the Black Lion had been uneventful. The usual gritty streets with the usual people and simians. It had given Chongo a chance to try out his new car, a fairly utilitarian looking Packard in chocolate and tan two-tone. It was a good car, and Chongo had added to its usefullness by having his buddy Roscoe, the metalworking chimp from St. Louis, weld armour plate inside all the doors, the firewall, and the rear luggage compartment. This made the car quite a bit heavier, but she still had plenty of pep.

Chongo pulled over to the curb and had a good look at the front of the Black Lion. The joint was jumping. A small monkey in a uniform appeared at once, and asked if he should park the car.

"Sure thing, kid." Chongo flipped the monk a quarter, handed over the keys, and entered the club, from which was pouring an indecipherable cacophony of "primitive" music. It was just a bunch of noise to Chongo, same as all music. He was completely tone deaf. He did, however, detect the hideous sounds of banjos and other stringed instruments, and deduced that it was that sort of hillbilly music that Big Daddy Malone had favoured. Awful stuff.

Upon entering Chongo found an unusually bohemian crowd, many of them with musical instruments in their hands. Ten years later they would probably have been called "beatniks", but Chongo had no name for them. "A buncha weirdos," he thought. "Probably spend their time smokin' reefers and talkin' about Marx and Engels..."

Then he saw Magenta. Chongo couldn't help himself...he grinned widely, cos she had those looong legs. Chongo really had a thing for long legs. You just didn't find long legs on female chimps. He hoped she would take the grin as mere friendliness. You had to be damn careful about forbidden inter-species lust in 1940's Chicago, and he had a reputation to maintain as a reliable gumshoe and a straight shooter.

He doffed his fedora, introduced himself, and offered her a nice ripe Costa Rican banana. He always had a few on him if at all possible. It never hurt to be polite.