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- "Well, they're dancers, she's a dancer. She's not too hot, though. She does
everything she's supposed to, but she's not so hot anyway. You know when a girl's really
a terrific dancer?"
"Wudga say?" she said. She wasn't listening to me, even. Her mind was
wandering all over the place.
"I said do you know when a girl's really a terrific dancer?"
"Uh-uh."
"Well--where I have my hand on your back. If I think there isn't anything
underneath my hand--no can, no legs, no feet, no anything--then the girl's really a terrific
dancer."
She wasn't listening, though. So I ignored her for a while. We just danced. God,
could that dopey girl dance. Buddy Singer and his stinking band was playing "Just One of
Those Things" and even they couldn't ruin it entirely. It's a swell song. I didn't try any
trick stuff while we danced--I hate a guy that does a lot of show-off tricky stuff on the
dance floor--but I was moving her around plenty, and she stayed with me. The funny
thing is, I thought she was enjoying it, too, till all of a sudden she came out with this very
dumb remark. "I and my girl friends saw Peter Lorre last night," she said. "The movie
actor. In person. He was buyin' a newspaper. He's cute."
"You're lucky," I told her. "You're really lucky. You know that?" She was really a
moron. But what a dancer. I could hardly stop myself from sort of giving her a kiss on the
top of her dopey head--you know-- right where the part is, and all. She got sore when I
did it.
"Hey! What's the idea?"
"Nothing. No idea. You really can dance," I said. "I have a kid sister that's only in
the goddam fourth grade. You're about as good as she is, and she can dance better than
anybody living or dead."
"Watch your language, if you don't mind."
What a lady, boy. A queen, for Chrissake.
"Where you girls from?" I asked her.
She didn't answer me, though. She was busy looking around for old Peter Lorre to
show up, I guess.
"Where you girls from?" I asked her again.
"What?" she said.
"Where you girls from? Don't answer if you don't feel like it. I don't want you to
strain yourself."
"Seattle, Washington," she said. She was doing me a big favor to tell me.
"You're a very good conversationalist," I told her. "You know that?"
"What?"
I let it drop. It was over her head, anyway. "Do you feel like jitterbugging a little
bit, if they play a fast one? Not corny jitterbug, not jump or anything--just nice and easy.
Everybody'll all sit down when they play a fast one, except the old guys and the fat guys,
and we'll have plenty of room. Okay?"
"It's immaterial to me," she said. "Hey--how old are you, anyhow?"
That annoyed me, for some reason. "Oh, Christ. Don't spoil it," I said. "I'm
twelve, for Chrissake. I'm big for my age."
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