{"id":"01KG0772KEDCENVT4EFEX87NDE","cid":"bafkreibmjziwbg4xx3jz374aj4e4suwu4nghi3nf4oexiv6cbhkeexwqvy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1986,"extracted_at":"2026-01-27T17:14:57.710Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KFYTG9MG93RTB6YAW34V48XG","start_line":1943,"text":" 1860\tmother in this LaSalle convertible they had. My mother didn't think Jane was pretty,\n 1861\teven. I did, though. I just liked the way she looked, that's all.\n 1862\tI remember this one afternoon. It was the only time old Jane and I ever got close\n 1863\tto necking, even. It was a Saturday and it was raining like a bastard out, and I was over at\n 1864\ther house, on the porch--they had this big screened-in porch. We were playing checkers. I\n 1865\tused to kid her once in a while because she wouldn't take her kings out of the back row.\n 1866\tBut I didn't kid her much, though. You never wanted to kid Jane too much. I think I really\n 1867\tlike it best when you can kid the pants off a girl when the opportunity arises, but it's a\n 1868\tfunny thing. The girls I like best are the ones I never feel much like kidding. Sometimes I\n 1869\tthink they'd like it if you kidded them--in fact, I know they would--but it's hard to get\n 1870\tstarted, once you've known them a pretty long time and never kidded them. Anyway, I\n 1871\twas telling you about that afternoon Jane and I came close to necking. It was raining like\n 1872\thell and we were out on her porch, and all of a sudden this booze hound her mother was\n 1873\tmarried to came out on the porch and asked Jane if there were any cigarettes in the house.\n 1874\tI didn't know him too well or anything, but he looked like the kind of guy that wouldn't\n 1875\ttalk to you much unless he wanted something off you. He had a lousy personality.\n 1876\tAnyway, old Jane wouldn't answer him when he asked her if she knew where there was\n 1877\tany cigarettes. So the guy asked her again, but she still wouldn't answer him. She didn't\n\n\n 1878\teven look up from the game. Finally the guy went inside the house. When he did, I asked\n 1879\tJane what the hell was going on. She wouldn't even answer me, then. She made out like\n 1880\tshe was concentrating on her next move in the game and all. Then all of a sudden, this\n 1881\ttear plopped down on the checkerboard. On one of the red squares--boy, I can still see it.\n 1882\tShe just rubbed it into the board with her finger. I don't know why, but it bothered hell\n 1883\tout of me. So what I did was, I went over and made her move over on the glider so that I\n 1884\tcould sit down next to her--I practically sat down in her lap, as a matter of fact. Then she\n 1885\treally started to cry, and the next thing I knew, I was kissing her all over--anywhere--her\n 1886\teyes, her nose, her forehead, her eyebrows and all, her ears--her whole face except her\n 1887\tmouth and all. She sort of wouldn't let me get to her mouth. Anyway, it was the closest\n 1888\twe ever got to necking. After a while, she got up and went in and put on this red and\n 1889\twhite sweater she had, that knocked me out, and we went to a goddam movie. I asked\n 1890\ther, on the way, if Mr. Cudahy--that was the booze hound's name--had ever tried to get\n 1891\twise with her. She was pretty young, but she had this terrific figure, and I wouldn't've put\n 1892\tit past that Cudahy bastard. She said no, though. I never did find out what the hell was the\n 1893\tmatter. Some girls you practically never find out what's the matter.\n 1894\tI don't want you to get the idea she was a goddam icicle or something, just\n 1895\tbecause we never necked or horsed around much. She wasn't. I held hands with her all\n 1896\tthe time, for instance. That doesn't sound like much, I realize, but she was terrific to hold\n 1897\thands with. Most girls if you hold hands with them, their goddam hand dies on you, or\n 1898\telse they think they have to keep moving their hand all the time, as if they were afraid\n 1899\tthey'd bore you or something. Jane was different. We'd get into a goddam movie or\n 1900\tsomething, and right away we'd start holding hands, and we wouldn't quit till the movie\n 1901\twas over. And without changing the position or making a big deal out of it. You never","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG0725NWZV6VH878RGF6BABT","peer_label":"11","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-27T17:14:58.468Z","ts":"2026-01-27T17:14:58.468Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}