Properties
- end_line
- 1985
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-30T03:41:20.744Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1939
- text
- -but I told her quite a lot about him. She was interested in that kind of stuff.
My mother didn't like her too much. I mean my mother always thought Jane and
her mother were sort of snubbing her or something when they didn't say hello. My
mother saw them in the village a lot, because Jane used to drive to market with her
mother in this LaSalle convertible they had. My mother didn't think Jane was pretty,
even. I did, though. I just liked the way she looked, that's all.
I remember this one afternoon. It was the only time old Jane and I ever got close
to necking, even. It was a Saturday and it was raining like a bastard out, and I was over at
her house, on the porch--they had this big screened-in porch. We were playing checkers. I
used to kid her once in a while because she wouldn't take her kings out of the back row.
But I didn't kid her much, though. You never wanted to kid Jane too much. I think I really
like it best when you can kid the pants off a girl when the opportunity arises, but it's a
funny thing. The girls I like best are the ones I never feel much like kidding. Sometimes I
think they'd like it if you kidded them--in fact, I know they would--but it's hard to get
started, once you've known them a pretty long time and never kidded them. Anyway, I
was telling you about that afternoon Jane and I came close to necking. It was raining like
hell and we were out on her porch, and all of a sudden this booze hound her mother was
married to came out on the porch and asked Jane if there were any cigarettes in the house.
I didn't know him too well or anything, but he looked like the kind of guy that wouldn't
talk to you much unless he wanted something off you. He had a lousy personality.
Anyway, old Jane wouldn't answer him when he asked her if she knew where there was
any cigarettes. So the guy asked her again, but she still wouldn't answer him. She didn't
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even look up from the game. Finally the guy went inside the house. When he did, I asked
Jane what the hell was going on. She wouldn't even answer me, then. She made out like
she was concentrating on her next move in the game and all. Then all of a sudden, this
tear plopped down on the checkerboard. On one of the red squares--boy, I can still see it.
She just rubbed it into the board with her finger. I don't know why, but it bothered hell
out of me. So what I did was, I went over and made her move over on the glider so that I
could sit down next to her--I practically sat down in her lap, as a matter of fact. Then she
really started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her all over--anywhere--her
eyes, her nose, her forehead, her eyebrows and all, her ears--her whole face except her
mouth and all. She sort of wouldn't let me get to her mouth. Anyway, it was the closest
we ever got to necking. After a while, she got up and went in and put on this red and
white sweater she had, that knocked me out, and we went to a goddam movie. I asked
her, on the way, if Mr. Cudahy--that was the booze hound's name--had ever tried to get
wise with her. She was pretty young, but she had this terrific figure, and I wouldn't've put
it past that Cudahy bastard. She said no, though. I never did find out what the hell was the
matter. Some girls you practically never find out what's the matter.
I don't want you to get the idea she was a goddam icicle or something, just
because we never necked or horsed around much. She wasn't. I held hands with her all
the time, for instance. That doesn't sound like much, I realize, but she was terrific to hold
hands with. Most girls if you hold hands with them, their goddam hand dies on you, or
else they think they have to keep moving their hand all the time, as if they were afraid
they'd bore you or something. Jane was different. We'd get into a goddam movie or
something, and right away we'd start holding hands, and we wouldn't quit till the movie
- title
- Chunk 7