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- 2026-01-27T17:17:08.782Z
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- 3301 couldn't take my eyes off it. It was about this English guy, Alec something, that was in
3302 the war and loses his memory in the hospital and all. He comes out of the hospital
3303 carrying a cane and limping all over the place, all over London, not knowing who the hell
3304 he is. He's really a duke, but he doesn't know it. Then he meets this nice, homey, sincere
3305 girl getting on a bus. Her goddam hat blows off and he catches it, and then they go
3306 upstairs and sit down and start talking about Charles Dickens. He's both their favorite
3307 author and all. He's carrying this copy of Oliver Twist and so's she. I could've puked.
3308 Anyway, they fell in love right away, on account of they're both so nuts about Charles
3309 Dickens and all, and he helps her run her publishing business. She's a publisher, the girl.
3310 Only, she's not doing so hot, because her brother's a drunkard and he spends all their
3311 dough. He's a very bitter guy, the brother, because he was a doctor in the war and now he
3312 can't operate any more because his nerves are shot, so he boozes all the time, but he's
3313 pretty witty and all. Anyway, old Alec writes a book, and this girl publishes it, and they
3314 both make a hatful of dough on it. They're all set to get married when this other girl, old
3315 Marcia, shows up. Marcia was Alec's fiancée before he lost his memory, and she
3316 recognizes him when he's in this store autographing books. She tells old Alec he's really a
3317 duke and all, but he doesn't believe her and doesn't want to go with her to visit his mother
3318 and all. His mother's blind as a bat. But the other girl, the homey one, makes him go.
3319 She's very noble and all. So he goes. But he still doesn't get his memory back, even when
3320 his great Dane jumps all over him and his mother sticks her fingers all over his face and
3321 brings him this teddy bear he used to slobber around with when he was a kid. But then,
3322 one day, some kids are playing cricket on the lawn and he gets smacked in the head with
3323 a cricket ball. Then right away he gets his goddam memory back and he goes in and
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3324 kisses his mother on the forehead and all. Then he starts being a regular duke again, and
3325 he forgets all about the homey babe that has the publishing business. I'd tell you the rest
3326 of the story, but I might puke if I did. It isn't that I'd spoil it for you or anything. There
3327 isn't anything to spoil for Chrissake. Anyway, it ends up with Alec and the homey babe
3328 getting married, and the brother that's a drunkard gets his nerves back and operates on
3329 Alec's mother so she can see again, and then the drunken brother and old Marcia go for
3330 each other. It ends up with everybody at this long dinner table laughing their asses off
3331 because the great Dane comes in with a bunch of puppies. Everybody thought it was a
3332 male, I suppose, or some goddam thing. All I can say is, don't see it if you don't want to
3333 puke all over yourself.
3334 The part that got me was, there was a lady sitting next to me that cried all through
3335 the goddam picture. The phonier it got, the more she cried. You'd have thought she did it
3336 because she was kindhearted as hell, but I was sitting right next to her, and she wasn't.
3337 She had this little kid with her that was bored as hell and had to go to the bathroom, but
3338 she wouldn't take him. She kept telling him to sit still and behave himself. She was about
3339 as kindhearted as a goddam wolf. You take somebody that cries their goddam eyes out
3340 over phony stuff in the movies, and nine times out of ten they're mean bastards at heart.
3341 I'm not kidding.
3342 After the movie was over, I started walking down to the Wicker Bar, where I was
3343 supposed to meet old Carl Luce, and while I walked I sort of thought about war and all.
- title
- Chunk 3