You Can Search Me

In Short

This is a brisk, slang-heavy comedic chronicle of two friends, John and Bunch, who find themselves broke and desperate on the eve of major life changes. To recoup their losses, they bankroll an eccentric magician named Petroskinski and his mysterious assistant. Through a series of frantic schemes, misidentifications, and social blunders, they manage to hoodwink their unsuspecting relatives while chasing a fortune. It remains a spirited snapshot of early 20th-century American urban humor, capturing the anxiety of the social climber and the absurdity of the "get-rich-quick" mindset with a sharp, irreverent wit.

The Story

John and Bunch are young men facing the pressures of marriage and financial ruin. Bunch, engaged to Alice Grey, is terrified that his lack of funds will stall their wedding, while John has secretly burned his own savings on a disastrous stock market play. To recover their "mazooboes," they bet everything on a theatrical venture: managing a flamboyant, self-proclaimed master of illusion named Petroskinski.

To keep their wives and families in the dark, John and Bunch introduce the magician and his assistant, Dodo, as Bunch’s long-lost relatives from Springfield. The farce escalates when the group meets John’s wife, Peaches, and her uncle, the local Mayor, at a high-end hotel. Through a combination of pure luck and Skinski’s quick-thinking sleight-of-hand tricks—such as producing a diamond from a box of quinine pills—the magician charms the skeptical Mayor.

As the pressure mounts, John and Bunch struggle to maintain the ruse. John is forced to fill in on stage at the last minute when Skinski is late, performing a frantic, clumsy routine to keep the audience occupied. Ultimately, the gamble pays off beyond their wildest expectations. Skinski’s act is a smash success, and he sells his interest in a dubious "gold mine" in the Blue Hills to the very relatives John and Bunch were trying to deceive.

With their pockets lined with seven thousand dollars each, the two friends dissolve the partnership and prepare for a celebratory trip to Europe. However, the ending delivers a final, ironic twist. On the voyage, John’s uncle-in-law reveals that he and Alice’s uncle have used John and Bunch’s money to buy into that same Blue Hills gold mine. John is left standing on the deck, realizing that while he successfully tricked his elders, he has unknowingly become the victim of his own scheme, as his capital is now tethered to the very hoax he helped bring to life.

How It Unfolds

A pact born of desperation John and Bunch commiserate over their empty pockets and the impending social pressures of matrimony. They decide that a high-stakes theatrical gamble is their only path to avoiding public humiliation.

The magician enters the stage The pair recruits Petroskinski, a confidence man with a knack for illusions and a penchant for expensive wine. They establish the ruse, masquerading the magician as a respectable family member to gain the trust of John's suspicious relatives.

The hotel encounter The plan nearly collapses when John’s wife and the local Mayor unexpectedly encounter the "relatives" at a restaurant. The tension spikes, but Skinski’s theatrical charisma wins over the skeptical older generation.

The stage debut On opening night, the magician is missing, forcing John to don a wig and moustache to salvage the performance. He manages to keep the audience entertained until his partner finally arrives to take over.

The final irony The venture concludes with a windfall for everyone, and the couples depart for Europe. On the ship, the older generation reveals they have reinvested the characters' earnings into the very gold mine scam they were manipulated into endorsing.

The People

John is the narrator, a man obsessed with appearances and terrified of his wife, Peaches, discovering his financial failures. His primary motivation is to "make good" before his debts are revealed, yet he remains perpetually vulnerable to his own impulsiveness.

Bunch is John’s "old pal," whose anxiety over his impending wedding to Alice Grey drives him to participate in increasingly dangerous schemes. He is the more nervous of the pair, constantly on the verge of cracking under the weight of their collective lies.

Petroskinski (the magician) is a charming, cynical con artist who treats life as a series of illusions. He is the catalyst for the book's events, providing the "sleight-of-hand" that keeps the plot moving while effortlessly manipulating those around him.

Uncle Peter and Aunt Martha serve as the pillars of social respectability. They are perpetually preoccupied with health fads and local status, providing the necessary "straight-man" foil to John and Bunch’s frantic, frantic efforts to maintain a facade. They end the story as unwitting victims of their own greed.

In Its Own Voice

"It's going to afford me a bunch of keen delight to soak you in the midriff with a rusty patent leather and then push a few rice fritters in under your coat collar, believe me!"

John describes his plans for his friend Bunch’s wedding day in a moment of boisterous, lighthearted banter.

"The waiter bowed so low that his shoulder blades cracked like a whip."

John describes the sycophantic service at a posh hotel where he and his wife are eating a meal they can barely afford.

"You betcher sweet!"

Dodo, the magician's assistant, offers this singular, repetitive refrain whenever she is asked a question or offered a drink.

What It's Really About

The narrative explores the performative nature of middle-class social life and the fear of falling behind. John and Bunch are not merely chasing money; they are chasing the appearance of stability in a world where a "frenzied finance" collapse or a failed investment can strip away one's social standing overnight. The book argues that honesty is often the first casualty of status-seeking. Beneath the humor lies an anxiety about the transition into adulthood—a process the characters view as a "roped arena of matrimony" where the struggle to pay for "three squares a day" consumes every other worry. It is a cynical look at how easily the respectable class can be swindled by the very illusions they pretend to understand.

Why Read It Today

This book is a fascinating artifact of the American "slang" period, capturing a specific, fast-talking energy that feels like a precursor to the screwball comedies of later decades. Readers who enjoy period-specific humor, eccentric character types, and the frantic pace of farce will find plenty to laugh at here. It is a light, breezy read that captures the absurdity of social climbing.

However, modern readers should be prepared for the dense, dated vernacular and the casual, sometimes jarring, stereotyping of the era. The constant, repetitive dialogue of the magician’s assistant and the heavy reliance on thick, phonetically written dialects can make the prose feel disjointed at times. The attitudes toward women and the "small-town" social dynamics are firmly rooted in the early 1900s, which may feel alien or exclusionary to contemporary audiences. If you can push past the barriers of its period language, you will find a sharp, clever satire of human greed that remains surprisingly recognizable. It is a brisk, unapologetic romp that doesn't ask for your sympathy, only your attention, leaving you with a lingering, cynical smile about the universal human desire to keep up appearances at any cost.