Properties
- end_line
- 3657
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-27T17:17:32.056Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 3603
- text
- 3450 topics in general with him. "No kidding, how's your sex life?" I asked him. "You still
3451 going around with that same babe you used to at Whooton? The one with the terrffic--"
3452 "Good God, no," he said.
3453 "How come? What happened to her?"
3454 "I haven't the faintest idea. For all I know, since you ask, she's probably the
3455 Whore of New Hampshire by this time."
3456 "That isn't nice. If she was decent enough to let you get sexy with her all the time,
3457 you at least shouldn't talk about her that way."
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3458 "Oh, God!" old Luce said. "Is this going to be a typical Caulfield conversation? I
3459 want to know right now."
3460 "No," I said, "but it isn't nice anyway. If she was decent and nice enough to let
3461 you--"
3462 "Must we pursue this horrible trend of thought?"
3463 I didn't say anything. I was sort of afraid he'd get up and leave on me if I didn't
3464 shut up. So all I did was, I ordered another drink. I felt like getting stinking drunk.
3465 "Who're you going around with now?" I asked him. "You feel like telling me?"
3466 "Nobody you know."
3467 "Yeah, but who? I might know her."
3468 "Girl lives in the Village. Sculptress. If you must know."
3469 "Yeah? No kidding? How old is she?"
3470 "I've never asked her, for God's sake."
3471 "Well, around how old?"
3472 "I should imagine she's in her late thirties," old Luce said.
3473 "In her late thirties? Yeah? You like that?" I asked him. "You like 'em that old?"
3474 The reason I was asking was because he really knew quite a bit about sex and all. He was
3475 one of the few guys I knew that did. He lost his virginity when he was only fourteen, in
3476 Nantucket. He really did.
3477 "I like a mature person, if that's what you mean. Certainly."
3478 "You do? Why? No kidding, they better for sex and all?"
3479 "Listen. Let's get one thing straight. I refuse to answer any typical Caulfield
3480 questions tonight. When in hell are you going to grow up?"
3481 I didn't say anything for a while. I let it drop for a while. Then old Luce ordered
3482 another Martini and told the bartender to make it a lot dryer.
3483 "Listen. How long you been going around with her, this sculpture babe?" I asked
3484 him. I was really interested. "Did you know her when you were at Whooton?"
3485 "Hardly. She just arrived in this country a few months ago."
3486 "She did? Where's she from?"
3487 "She happens to be from Shanghai."
3488 "No kidding! She Chinese, for Chrissake?"
3489 "Obviously."
3490 "No kidding! Do you like that? Her being Chinese?"
3491 "Obviously."
3492 "Why? I'd be interested to know--I really would."
3493 "I simply happen to find Eastern philosophy more satisfactory than Western.
3494 Since you ask."
3495 "You do? Wuddaya mean 'philosophy'? Ya mean sex and all? You mean it's better
3496 in China? That what you mean?"
3497 "Not necessarily in China, for God's sake. The East I said. Must we go on with
3498 this inane conversation?"
3499 "Listen, I'm serious," I said. "No kidding. Why's it better in the East?"
3500 "It's too involved to go into, for God's sake," old Luce said. "They simply happen
3501 to regard sex as both a physical and a spiritual experience. If you think I'm--"
- title
- Chunk 3