{"id":"01KG079HTBCZKEVJ5VFME3WXRS","cid":"bafkreialnlxfamw6v6zdfdsk4d2vm23rmi6x3ljmlrp7qdgfoyzrpz2oem","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2744,"extracted_at":"2026-01-27T17:16:18.880Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KFYTG9MG93RTB6YAW34V48XG","start_line":2700,"text":"  2585\tVitamin Caulfield.\n  2586\tWhile I was eating my eggs, these two nuns with suitcases and all--I guessed they\n  2587\twere moving to another convent or something and were waiting for a train--came in and\n  2588\tsat down next to me at the counter. They didn't seem to know what the hell to do with\n  2589\ttheir suitcases, so I gave them a hand. They were these very inexpensive-looking\n  2590\tsuitcases--the ones that aren't genuine leather or anything. It isn't important, I know, but I\n  2591\thate it when somebody has cheap suitcases. It sounds terrible to say it, but I can even get\n  2592\tto hate somebody, just looking at them, if they have cheap suitcases with them.\n  2593\tSomething happened once. For a while when I was at Elkton Hills, I roomed with this\n  2594\tboy, Dick Slagle, that had these very inexpensive suitcases. He used to keep them under\n  2595\tthe bed, instead of on the rack, so that nobody'd see them standing next to mine. It\n  2596\tdepressed holy hell out of me, and I kept wanting to throw mine out or something, or\n\n<!-- [Page 59](arke:01KFYTAC7KGAP5DC8FTEVAYTBX) -->\n  2597\teven trade with him. Mine came from Mark Cross, and they were genuine cowhide and\n  2598\tall that crap, and I guess they cost quite a pretty penny. But it was a funny thing. Here's\n  2599\twhat happened. What I did, I finally put my suitcases under my bed, instead of on the\n  2600\track, so that old Slagle wouldn't get a goddam inferiority complex about it. But here's\n  2601\twhat he did. The day after I put mine under my bed, he took them out and put them back\n  2602\ton the rack. The reason he did it, it took me a while to find out, was because he wanted\n  2603\tpeople to think my bags were his. He really did. He was a very funny guy, that way. He\n  2604\twas always saying snotty things about them, my suitcases, for instance. He kept saying\n  2605\tthey were too new and bourgeois. That was his favorite goddam word. He read it\n  2606\tsomewhere or heard it somewhere. Everything I had was bourgeois as hell. Even my\n  2607\tfountain pen was bourgeois. He borrowed it off me all the time, but it was bourgeois\n  2608\tanyway. We only roomed together about two months. Then we both asked to be moved.\n  2609\tAnd the funny thing was, I sort of missed him after we moved, because he had a helluva\n  2610\tgood sense of humor and we had a lot of fun sometimes. I wouldn't be surprised if he\n  2611\tmissed me, too. At first he only used to be kidding when he called my stuff bourgeois,\n  2612\tand I didn't give a damn--it was sort of funny, in fact. Then, after a while, you could tell\n  2613\the wasn't kidding any more. The thing is, it's really hard to be roommates with people if\n  2614\tyour suitcases are much better than theirs--if yours are really good ones and theirs aren't.\n  2615\tYou think if they're intelligent and all, the other person, and have a good sense of humor,\n  2616\tthat they don't give a damn whose suitcases are better, but they do. They really do. It's\n  2617\tone of the reasons why I roomed with a stupid bastard like Stradlater. At least his\n  2618\tsuitcases were as good as mine.\n  2619\tAnyway, these two nuns were sitting next to me, and we sort of struck up a\n  2620\tconversation. The one right next to me had one of those straw baskets that you see nuns\n  2621\tand Salvation Army babes collecting dough with around Christmas time. You see them\n  2622\tstanding on corners, especially on Fifth Avenue, in front of the big department stores and\n  2623\tall. Anyway, the one next to me dropped hers on the floor and I reached down and picked\n  2624\tit up for her. I asked her if she was out collecting money for charity and all. She said no.\n  2625\tShe said she couldn't get it in her suitcase when she was packing it and she was just\n  2626\tcarrying it. She had a pretty nice smile when she looked at you. She had a big nose, and\n  2627\tshe had on those glasses with sort of iron rims that aren't too attractive, but she had a","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG072JK9JYJXQ6SAQ846BAXY","peer_label":"15","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-27T17:16:19.263Z","ts":"2026-01-27T17:16:19.263Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}