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- 2759 were just walking along, talking, not paying any attention to their kid. The kid was swell.
2760 He was walking in the street, instead of on the sidewalk, but right next to the curb. He
2761 was making out like he was walking a very straight line, the way kids do, and the whole
2762 time he kept singing and humming. I got up closer so I could hear what he was singing.
2763 He was singing that song, "If a body catch a body coming through the rye." He had a
2764 pretty little voice, too. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. The cars
2765 zoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and
2766 he kept on walking next to the curb and singing "If a body catch a body coming through
2767 the rye." It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed any more.
2768 Broadway was mobbed and messy. It was Sunday, and only about twelve o'clock,
2769 but it was mobbed anyway. Everybody was on their way to the movies--the Paramount or
2770 the Astor or the Strand or the Capitol or one of those crazy places. Everybody was all
2771 dressed up, because it was Sunday, and that made it worse. But the worst part was that
2772 you could tell they all wanted to go to the movies. I couldn't stand looking at them. I can
2773 understand somebody going to the movies because there's nothing else to do, but when
2774 somebody really wants to go, and even walks fast so as to get there quicker, then it
2775 depresses hell out of me. Especially if I see millions of people standing in one of those
2776 long, terrible lines, all the way down the block, waiting with this terrific patience for seats
2777 and all. Boy, I couldn't get off that goddam Broadway fast enough. I was lucky. The first
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2778 record store I went into had a copy of "Little Shirley Beans." They charged me five bucks
2779 for it, because it was so hard to get, but I didn't care. Boy, it made me so happy all of a
2780 sudden. I could hardly wait to get to the park to see if old Phoebe was around so that I
2781 could give it to her.
2782 When I came out of the record store, I passed this drugstore, and I went in. I
2783 figured maybe I'd give old Jane a buzz and see if she was home for vacation yet. So I
2784 went in a phone booth and called her up. The only trouble was, her mother answered the
2785 phone, so I had to hang up. I didn't feel like getting involved in a long conversation and
2786 all with her. I'm not crazy about talking to girls' mothers on the phone anyway. I
2787 should've at least asked her if Jane was home yet, though. It wouldn't have killed me. But
2788 I didn't feel like it. You really have to be in the mood for that stuff.
2789 I still had to get those damn theater tickets, so I bought a paper and looked up to
2790 see what shows were playing. On account of it was Sunday, there were only about three
2791 shows playing. So what I did was, I went over and bought two orchestra seats for I Know
2792 My Love. It was a benefit performance or something. I didn't much want to see it, but I
2793 knew old Sally, the queen of the phonies, would start drooling all over the place when I
2794 told her I had tickets for that, because the Lunts were in it and all. She liked shows that
2795 are supposed to be very sophisticated and dry and all, with the Lunts and all. I don't. I
2796 don't like any shows very much, if you want to know the truth. They're not as bad as
2797 movies, but they're certainly nothing to rave about. In the first place, I hate actors. They
2798 never act like people. They just think they do. Some of the good ones do, in a very slight
2799 way, but not in a way that's fun to watch. And if any actor's really good, you can always
2800 tell he knows he's good, and that spoils it. You take Sir Laurence Olivier, for example. I
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