The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum Read Free Book Online Page B

street from him and we all knew that Tony knew that Eddie’s dad beat him.
    “No shit,” said Eddie. There was warning in his voice.
    You could almost feel Tony edge away. He was just a skinny little Italian guy but he had some status with us because he already had the downy dark beginnings of a mustache.
    “You get to see all of ’em?” asked Kenny Robertson. “Jeez. I hear there was one with Jayne Mansfield.”
    “Not all of ’em,” said Eddie.
    He lit a cigarette so I closed the flaps again.
    “I saw that one, though,” he said.
    “Honest?”
    “Sure did.”
    He took a drag on the cigarette, being very Mister Cool about it. Willie sat up next to me and I could feel his big flabby belly press softly into my back. He wanted the cigarette but Eddie wasn’t passing just yet.
    “Biggest tits I ever seen,” he said.
    “Bigger than Julie London’s? Bigger than June Wilkdnson’s?”
    “Shit! Bigger than Willie’s,” he said. Then he and Donny and Tony cracked up laughing—though actually it shouldn’t have been all that funny for Donny because Donny was getting them too. Small fatty pouches where the muscle should be. Kenny Robertson, I guess, was too scared to laugh. And Willie was right there beside me so I wasn’t saying anything.
    “Har-dee-har-har,” said Willie. “So fucking funny I forgot to laugh.” ...- w .
    “Oh that’s cool,” said Eddie. “What are you, in the third grade?”
    “Eat me,” said Willie.
    “I’d have to push your mother away, spaz.”
    “Hey,” said Kenny. “Tell us about Jayne Mansfield. You see her nips?”
    “Sure you do. She’s got this great body and these little juicy pointy nips and these great big tits and this great ass. But her legs are skinny.”
    “Fuck her legs!” said Donny.
    “You fuck ’em,” said Eddie. “I’ll fuck the rest of her.”
    “You got it!” said Kenny. “God. Nips and everything! Amazing.”
    Eddie passed him the cigarette. He took a quick drag and then passed it on to Donny.
    “The thing is,” Kenny said, “she’s a movie star. You got to wonder why she’d do that kind of thing.”
    “What kind of thing?” Donny asked.
    “Show her tits that way in a magazine.”
    We thought about it.
    “Well, she’s not really a movie star,” Donny said. “I mean, Natalie Wood’s a movie star. Jayne Mansfield’s just sort of in some movies.”
    “A starlet,” said Kenny.
    “Naw,” said Donny. “She’s too fucking old to be a starlet. Dolores Hart’s a starlet. You see Loving You ? I love that scene in the graveyard, man.”
    “Me too.”
    “That scene’s with Lizabeth Scott,” said Willie. “So what?”
    “I like the scene in the soda shop,” said Kenny. “Where he sings and beats the shit outa the guy.”
    “Great,” said Eddie.
    “Really great,” said Willie.
    “Really.”
    “Anyway, you got to figure Playboy’s not just a magazine, either,” said Donny. “You know, it’s Playboy . I mean, Marilyn Monroe was in there. It’s the greatest magazine ever.”
    “You think? Better than Mad?” Kenny sounded skeptical.
    “Shit, yes. I mean, Mad’s casual. But it’s just for kids, you know?”
    “What about Famous Monsters?” asked Tony.
    That was a tough one. Famous Monsters had just appeared and all of us were crazy for it.
    “Sure,” said Donny. He took a drag on the cigarette and smiled. The smile was all knowing. “Does Famous Monsters of Filmland show tits?” he said.
    We all laughed. The logic was irrefutable.
    He passed the smoke to Eddie, who took a final drag and stubbed it out on the grass, then flipped the butt into the woods.
    There was one of those silences where nobody had anything to say, we were all off alone there somewhere.
    Then Kenny looked at Donny. “You ever really see it?” he said.
    “See what?”
    “Tit.”
    “Real tit?”
    “Yeah.”
    Donny laughed. “Eddie’s sister.”
    That got another laugh because everybody had.
    “I mean on a