{"id":"01KG076JX09T5E1BZQEEE4GYMJ","cid":"bafkreib4otaiblka2sycplj4tt5diawuj2wfrnyopl5o3qgmnbyhghj6km","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1766,"extracted_at":"2026-01-27T17:14:41.544Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 7","source_file":"01KFYTG9MG93RTB6YAW34V48XG","start_line":1720,"text":" 1647\tthe back. I should've waved a buck under the head-waiter's nose. In New York, boy,\n 1648\tmoney really talks--I'm not kidding.\n 1649\tThe band was putrid. Buddy Singer. Very brassy, but not good brassy--corny\n 1650\tbrassy. Also, there were very few people around my age in the place. In fact, nobody was\n 1651\taround my age. They were mostly old, show-offy-looking guys with their dates. Except at\n\n\n 1652\tthe table right next to me. At the table right next to me, there were these three girls\n 1653\taround thirty or so. The whole three of them were pretty ugly, and they all had on the\n 1654\tkind of hats that you knew they didn't really live in New York, but one of them, the\n 1655\tblonde one, wasn't too bad. She was sort of cute, the blonde one, and I started giving her\n 1656\tthe old eye a little bit, but just then the waiter came up for my order. I ordered a Scotch\n 1657\tand soda, and told him not to mix it--I said it fast as hell, because if you hem and haw,\n 1658\tthey think you're under twenty-one and won't sell you any intoxicating liquor. I had\n 1659\ttrouble with him anyway, though. \"I'm sorry, sir,\" he said, \"but do you have some\n 1660\tverification of your age? Your driver's license, perhaps?\"\n 1661\tI gave him this very cold stare, like he'd insulted the hell out of me, and asked\n 1662\thim, \"Do I look like I'm under twenty-one?\"\n 1663\t\"I'm sorry, sir, but we have our--\"\n 1664\t\"Okay, okay,\" I said. I figured the hell with it. \"Bring me a Coke.\" He started to\n 1665\tgo away, but I called him back. \"Can'tcha stick a little rum in it or something?\" I asked\n 1666\thim. I asked him very nicely and all. \"I can't sit in a corny place like this cold sober.\n 1667\tCan'tcha stick a little rum in it or something?\"\n 1668\t\"I'm very sorry, sir. . .\" he said, and beat it on me. I didn't hold it against him,\n 1669\tthough. They lose their jobs if they get caught selling to a minor. I'm a goddam minor.\n 1670\tI started giving the three witches at the next table the eye again. That is, the\n 1671\tblonde one. The other two were strictly from hunger. I didn't do it crudely, though. I just\n 1672\tgave all three of them this very cool glance and all. What they did, though, the three of\n 1673\tthem, when I did it, they started giggling like morons. They probably thought I was too\n 1674\tyoung to give anybody the once-over. That annoyed hell out of me-- you'd've thought I\n 1675\twanted to marry them or something. I should've given them the freeze, after they did that,\n 1676\tbut the trouble was, I really felt like dancing. I'm very fond of dancing, sometimes, and\n 1677\tthat was one of the times. So all of a sudden, I sort of leaned over and said, \"Would any\n 1678\tof you girls care to dance?\" I didn't ask them crudely or anything. Very suave, in fact. But\n 1679\tGod damn it, they thought that was a panic, too. They started giggling some more. I'm\n 1680\tnot kidding, they were three real morons. \"C'mon,\" I said. \"I'll dance with you one at a\n 1681\ttime. All right? How 'bout it? C'mon!\" I really felt like dancing.\n 1682\tFinally, the blonde one got up to dance with me, because you could tell I was\n 1683\treally talking to her, and we walked out to the dance floor. The other two grools nearly\n 1684\thad hysterics when we did. I certainly must've been very hard up to even bother with any\n 1685\tof them.\n 1686\tBut it was worth it. The blonde was some dancer. She was one of the best dancers\n 1687\tI ever danced with. I'm not kidding, some of these very stupid girls can really knock you\n 1688\tout on a dance floor. You take a really smart girl, and half the time she's trying to lead\n 1689\tyou around the dance floor, or else she's such a lousy dancer, the best thing to do is stay\n 1690\tat the table and just get drunk with her.\n 1691\t\"You really can dance,\" I told the blonde one. \"You oughta be a pro. I mean it. I","title":"Chunk 7"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG0725E9A9CCEYGRP2MDJ6G5","peer_label":"Chapter 9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-27T17:14:42.123Z","ts":"2026-01-27T17:14:42.123Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}