Properties
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- 1820
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-27T17:14:41.545Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
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- 1762
- text
- 1687 I ever danced with. I'm not kidding, some of these very stupid girls can really knock you
1688 out on a dance floor. You take a really smart girl, and half the time she's trying to lead
1689 you around the dance floor, or else she's such a lousy dancer, the best thing to do is stay
1690 at the table and just get drunk with her.
1691 "You really can dance," I told the blonde one. "You oughta be a pro. I mean it. I
1692 danced with a pro once, and you're twice as good as she was. Did you ever hear of Marco
1693 and Miranda?"
1694 "What?" she said. She wasn't even listening to me. She was looking all around the
1695 place.
1696 "I said did you ever hear of Marco and Miranda?"
1697 "I don't know. No. I don't know."
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1698 "Well, they're dancers, she's a dancer. She's not too hot, though. She does
1699 everything she's supposed to, but she's not so hot anyway. You know when a girl's really
1700 a terrific dancer?"
1701 "Wudga say?" she said. She wasn't listening to me, even. Her mind was
1702 wandering all over the place.
1703 "I said do you know when a girl's really a terrific dancer?"
1704 "Uh-uh."
1705 "Well--where I have my hand on your back. If I think there isn't anything
1706 underneath my hand--no can, no legs, no feet, no anything--then the girl's really a terrific
1707 dancer."
1708 She wasn't listening, though. So I ignored her for a while. We just danced. God,
1709 could that dopey girl dance. Buddy Singer and his stinking band was playing "Just One of
1710 Those Things" and even they couldn't ruin it entirely. It's a swell song. I didn't try any
1711 trick stuff while we danced--I hate a guy that does a lot of show-off tricky stuff on the
1712 dance floor--but I was moving her around plenty, and she stayed with me. The funny
1713 thing is, I thought she was enjoying it, too, till all of a sudden she came out with this very
1714 dumb remark. "I and my girl friends saw Peter Lorre last night," she said. "The movie
1715 actor. In person. He was buyin' a newspaper. He's cute."
1716 "You're lucky," I told her. "You're really lucky. You know that?" She was really a
1717 moron. But what a dancer. I could hardly stop myself from sort of giving her a kiss on the
1718 top of her dopey head--you know-- right where the part is, and all. She got sore when I
1719 did it.
1720 "Hey! What's the idea?"
1721 "Nothing. No idea. You really can dance," I said. "I have a kid sister that's only in
1722 the goddam fourth grade. You're about as good as she is, and she can dance better than
1723 anybody living or dead."
1724 "Watch your language, if you don't mind."
1725 What a lady, boy. A queen, for Chrissake.
1726 "Where you girls from?" I asked her.
1727 She didn't answer me, though. She was busy looking around for old Peter Lorre to
1728 show up, I guess.
1729 "Where you girls from?" I asked her again.
1730 "What?" she said.
1731 "Where you girls from? Don't answer if you don't feel like it. I don't want you to
1732 strain yourself."
1733 "Seattle, Washington," she said. She was doing me a big favor to tell me.
1734 "You're a very good conversationalist," I told her. "You know that?"
1735 "What?"
1736 I let it drop. It was over her head, anyway. "Do you feel like jitterbugging a little
1737 bit, if they play a fast one? Not corny jitterbug, not jump or anything--just nice and easy.
1738 Everybody'll all sit down when they play a fast one, except the old guys and the fat guys,
1739 and we'll have plenty of room. Okay?"
1740 "It's immaterial to me," she said. "Hey--how old are you, anyhow?"
1741 That annoyed me, for some reason. "Oh, Christ. Don't spoil it," I said. "I'm
1742 twelve, for Chrissake. I'm big for my age."
- title
- Chunk 8