Nine Stories by J. D. Salinger Read Free Book Online Page A

"I've made up my mind that I'm not even going to
think about it. But I'm just so furious," he said. "I mean
here's this awful little person from Altoona, Pennsylvania--or one of
those places. Apparently starving to death. I'm kind and decent
enough--I'm the original Good Samaritan--to take him into my
apartment, this absolutely microscopic little apartment that I can
hardly move around in myself. I introduce him to all my friends. Let
him clutter up the whole apartment with his horrible manuscript
papers, and cigarette butts, and radishes, and whatnot. Introduce him
to every theatrical producer in New York. Haul his filthy shirts back
and forth from the laundry. And on top of it all--" The young
man broke off. "And the result of all my kindness and decency,"
he went on, "is that he walks out of the house at five or six in
the morning--without so much as leaving a note behind--taking with
him anything and everything he can lay his filthy, dirty hands on."
He paused to drag on his cigarette, and exhaled the smoke in a thin,
sibilant stream from his mouth. "I don't want to talk about it.
I really don't." He looked over at Ginnie. "I love your
coat," he said, already out of his chair. He crossed over and
took the lapel of Ginnie's polo coat between his fingers. "It's
lovely. It's the first really good camel's hair I've seen since the
war. May I ask where you got it?"
    "My
mother brought it back from Nassau."
    The
young man nodded thoughtfully and backed off toward his chair. "It's
one of the few places where you can get really good camel's hair."
He sat down. "Was she there long?"
    "What?"
said Ginnie.
    "Was
your mother there long? The reason I ask is my mother was down in
December. And part of January. Usually I go down with her, but this
has been such a messy year I simply couldn't get away."
    "She
was down in February," Ginnie said.
    "Grand.
Where did she stay? Do you know?"
    "With
my aunt."
    He
nodded. "May I ask your name? You're a friend of Franklin's
sister, I take it?"
    "We're
in the same class," Ginnie said, answering only his second
question.
    "You're
not the famous Maxine that Selena talks about, are you?"
    "No,"
Ginnie said.
    The
young man suddenly began brushing the cuffs of his trousers with the
flat of his hand. "I am dog hairs from head to foot," he
said. "Mother went to Washington over the weekend and parked her
beast in my apartment. It's really quite sweet. But such nasty
habits. Do you have a dog?"
    "No."
    "Actually,
I think it's cruel to keep them in the city." He stopped
brushing, sat back, and looked at his wristwatch again. "I have
never known that boy to be on time. We're going to see Cocteau's
'Beauty and the Beast' and it's the one film where you really should
get there on time. I mean if you don't, the whole charm of it is
gone. Have you seen it?"
    "No."
    "Oh,
you must! I've seen it eight times. It's absolutely pure genius,"
he said. "I've been trying to get Franklin to see it for
months." He shook his head hopelessly. "His taste. During
the war, we both worked at the same horrible place, and that boy
would insist on dragging me to the most impossible pictures in the
world. We saw gangster pictures, Western pictures, musicals--"
    "Did
you work in the airplane factory, too?" Ginnie asked.
    "God,
yes. For years and years and years. Let's not talk about it, please."
    "You
have a bad heart, too?"
    "Heavens,
no. Knock wood." He rapped the arm of his chair twice. "I
have the constitution of--"

    As
Selena entered the room, Ginnie stood up quickly and went to meet her
halfway. Selena had changed from her shorts to a dress, a fact that
ordinarily would have annoyed Ginnie.
    "I'm
sorry to've kept you waiting," Selena said insincerely, "but
I had to wait for Mother to wake up.... Hello, Eric."
    "Hello,
hello!"
    "I
don't want the money anyway," Ginnie said, keeping her voice
down so that she was heard only by Selena.
    "What?"
    "I've
been thinking. I mean you bring the tennis balls and all, all the
time. I forgot