Properties
- end_line
- 4403
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-27T17:18:33.088Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
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- text
- 4166 23
4167 I made it very snappy on the phone because I was afraid my parents would barge
4168 in on me right in the middle of it. They didn't, though. Mr. Antolini was very nice. He
4169 said I could come right over if I wanted to. I think I probably woke he and his wife up,
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4170 because it took them a helluva long time to answer the phone. The first thing he asked me
4171 was if anything was wrong, and I said no. I said I'd flunked out of Pencey, though. I
4172 thought I might as well tell him. He said "Good God," when I said that. He had a good
4173 sense of humor and all. He told me to come right over if I felt like it.
4174 He was about the best teacher I ever had, Mr. Antolini. He was a pretty young
4175 guy, not much older than my brother D.B., and you could kid around with him without
4176 losing your respect for him. He was the one that finally picked up that boy that jumped
4177 out the window I told you about, James Castle. Old Mr. Antolini felt his pulse and all,
4178 and then he took off his coat and put it over James Castle and carried him all the way
4179 over to the infirmary. He didn't even give a damn if his coat got all bloody.
4180 When I got back to D.B.'s room, old Phoebe'd turned the radio on. This dance
4181 music was coming out. She'd turned it on low, though, so the maid wouldn't hear it. You
4182 should've seen her. She was sitting smack in the middle of the bed, outside the covers,
4183 with her legs folded like one of those Yogi guys. She was listening to the music. She kills
4184 me.
4185 "C'mon," I said. "You feel like dancing?" I taught her how to dance and all when
4186 she was a tiny little kid. She's a very good dancer. I mean I just taught her a few things.
4187 She learned it mostly by herself. You can't teach somebody how to really dance.
4188 "You have shoes on," she said.
4189 "I'll take 'em off. C'mon."
4190 She practically jumped off the bed, and then she waited while I took my shoes off,
4191 and then I danced with her for a while. She's really damn good. I don't like people that
4192 dance with little kids, because most of the time it looks terrible. I mean if you're out at a
4193 restaurant somewhere and you see some old guy take his little kid out on the dance floor.
4194 Usually they keep yanking the kid's dress up in the back by mistake, and the kid can't
4195 dance worth a damn anyway, and it looks terrible, but I don't do it out in public with
4196 Phoebe or anything. We just horse around in the house. It's different with her anyway,
4197 because she can dance. She can follow anything you do. I mean if you hold her in close
4198 as hell so that it doesn't matter that your legs are so much longer. She stays right with
4199 you. You can cross over, or do some corny dips, or even jitterbug a little, and she stays
4200 right with you. You can even tango, for God's sake.
4201 We danced about four numbers. In between numbers she's funny as hell. She stays
4202 right in position. She won't even talk or anything. You both have to stay right in position
4203 and wait for the orchestra to start playing again. That kills me. You're not supposed to
4204 laugh or anything, either.
4205 Anyway, we danced about four numbers, and then I turned off the radio. Old
4206 Phoebe jumped back in bed and got under the covers. "I'm improving, aren't I?" she
4207 asked me.
4208 "And how," I said. I sat down next to her on the bed again. I was sort of out of
4209 breath. I was smoking so damn much, I had hardly any wind. She wasn't even out of
4210 breath.
4211 "Feel my forehead," she said all of a sudden.
4212 "Why?"
4213 "Feel it. Just feel it once."
4214 I felt it. I didn't feel anything, though.
4215 "Does it feel very feverish?" she said.
- title
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