On April 1, 1968 he was released on conditional and/or mandatory release. Gone too was his devil-may-care attitude. The penal system had finally managed to rehabilitate him, or at least convince him that he never wanted to see the inside of a jailhouse again. Clearly, then, his old way of life was over, which meant that he was a thief who wasn’t stealing, a drug addict who wasn’t using, and a gambler who wasn’t gambling. Without his old life he wasn’t sure what or who he was. All he knew was that he was old, alone, and nearly broke. Yet, he also knew that he was alive and free.
Because of his grandparents’ financial difficulties, Chuck is forced to earn a living at the age of seven. He lands a job as a newsboy just as the U.S. is entering World War One, and hustles his sheets in the heart of San Francisco's Tenderloin District.