- end_line
- 4686
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-27T17:18:35.106Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 4654
- text
- 4455 Mrs. Antolini a kiss and she said good-by to me and went in the bedroom. They were
4456 always kissing each other a lot in public.
4457 I had part of a cup of coffee and about half of some cake that was as hard as a
4458 rock. All old Mr. Antolini had was another highball, though. He makes them strong, too,
4459 you could tell. He may get to be an alcoholic if he doesn't watch his step.
4460 "I had lunch with your dad a couple of weeks ago," he said all of a sudden. "Did
4461 you know that?"
4462 "No, I didn't."
4463 "You're aware, of course, that he's terribly concerned about you."
4464 "I know it. I know he is," I said.
4465 "Apparently before he phoned me he'd just had a long, rather harrowing letter
4466 from your latest headmaster, to the effect that you were making absolutely no effort at all.
4467 Cutting classes. Coming unprepared to all your classes. In general, being an all-around--"
4468 "I didn't cut any classes. You weren't allowed to cut any. There were a couple of
4469 them I didn't attend once in a while, like that Oral Expression I told you about, but I
4470 didn't cut any."
4471 I didn't feel at all like discussing it. The coffee made my stomach feel a little
4472 better, but I still had this awful headache.
4473 Mr. Antolini lit another cigarette. He smoked like a fiend. Then he said, "Frankly,
4474 I don't know what the hell to say to you, Holden."
4475 "I know. I'm very hard to talk to. I realize that."
4476 "I have a feeling that you're riding for some kind of a terrible, terrible fall. But I
4477 don't honestly know what kind. . . Are you listening to me?"
4478 "Yes."
4479 You could tell he was trying to concentrate and all.
4480 "It may be the kind where, at the age of thirty, you sit in some bar hating
4481 everybody who comes in looking as if he might have played football in college. Then
4482 again, you may pick up just enough education to hate people who say, 'It's a secret
4483 between he and I.' Or you may end up in some business office, throwing paper clips at the
4484 nearest stenographer. I just don't know. But do you know what I'm driving at, at all?"
4485 "Yes. Sure," I said. I did, too. "But you're wrong about that hating business. I
4486 mean about hating football players and all. You really are. I don't hate too many guys.
- title
- Chunk 4