{"id":"01KG07ACCHJT0STCB5BSTVWHMH","cid":"bafkreifue7chec7g4dulm7fegndi2z7jtmcquyvi6lenzhxrsiwi3s7ffy","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2925,"extracted_at":"2026-01-27T17:16:46.102Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 2","source_file":"01KFYTG9MG93RTB6YAW34V48XG","start_line":2882,"text":" 2759\twere just walking along, talking, not paying any attention to their kid. The kid was swell.\n 2760\tHe was walking in the street, instead of on the sidewalk, but right next to the curb. He\n 2761\twas making out like he was walking a very straight line, the way kids do, and the whole\n 2762\ttime he kept singing and humming. I got up closer so I could hear what he was singing.\n 2763\tHe was singing that song, \"If a body catch a body coming through the rye.\" He had a\n 2764\tpretty little voice, too. He was just singing for the hell of it, you could tell. The cars\n 2765\tzoomed by, brakes screeched all over the place, his parents paid no attention to him, and\n 2766\the kept on walking next to the curb and singing \"If a body catch a body coming through\n 2767\tthe rye.\" It made me feel better. It made me feel not so depressed any more.\n 2768\tBroadway was mobbed and messy. It was Sunday, and only about twelve o'clock,\n 2769\tbut it was mobbed anyway. Everybody was on their way to the movies--the Paramount or\n 2770\tthe Astor or the Strand or the Capitol or one of those crazy places. Everybody was all\n 2771\tdressed up, because it was Sunday, and that made it worse. But the worst part was that\n 2772\tyou could tell they all wanted to go to the movies. I couldn't stand looking at them. I can\n 2773\tunderstand somebody going to the movies because there's nothing else to do, but when\n 2774\tsomebody really wants to go, and even walks fast so as to get there quicker, then it\n 2775\tdepresses hell out of me. Especially if I see millions of people standing in one of those\n 2776\tlong, terrible lines, all the way down the block, waiting with this terrific patience for seats\n 2777\tand all. Boy, I couldn't get off that goddam Broadway fast enough. I was lucky. The first\n\n\n 2778\trecord store I went into had a copy of \"Little Shirley Beans.\" They charged me five bucks\n 2779\tfor it, because it was so hard to get, but I didn't care. Boy, it made me so happy all of a\n 2780\tsudden. I could hardly wait to get to the park to see if old Phoebe was around so that I\n 2781\tcould give it to her.\n 2782\tWhen I came out of the record store, I passed this drugstore, and I went in. I\n 2783\tfigured maybe I'd give old Jane a buzz and see if she was home for vacation yet. So I\n 2784\twent in a phone booth and called her up. The only trouble was, her mother answered the\n 2785\tphone, so I had to hang up. I didn't feel like getting involved in a long conversation and\n 2786\tall with her. I'm not crazy about talking to girls' mothers on the phone anyway. I\n 2787\tshould've at least asked her if Jane was home yet, though. It wouldn't have killed me. But\n 2788\tI didn't feel like it. You really have to be in the mood for that stuff.\n 2789\tI still had to get those damn theater tickets, so I bought a paper and looked up to\n 2790\tsee what shows were playing. On account of it was Sunday, there were only about three\n 2791\tshows playing. So what I did was, I went over and bought two orchestra seats for I Know\n 2792\tMy Love. It was a benefit performance or something. I didn't much want to see it, but I\n 2793\tknew old Sally, the queen of the phonies, would start drooling all over the place when I\n 2794\ttold her I had tickets for that, because the Lunts were in it and all. She liked shows that\n 2795\tare supposed to be very sophisticated and dry and all, with the Lunts and all. I don't. I\n 2796\tdon't like any shows very much, if you want to know the truth. They're not as bad as\n 2797\tmovies, but they're certainly nothing to rave about. In the first place, I hate actors. They\n 2798\tnever act like people. They just think they do. Some of the good ones do, in a very slight\n 2799\tway, but not in a way that's fun to watch. And if any actor's really good, you can always\n 2800\ttell he knows he's good, and that spoils it. You take Sir Laurence Olivier, for example. I","title":"Chunk 2"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG072EXBSV0AEAB8M118N27X","peer_label":"16","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-27T17:16:46.652Z","ts":"2026-01-27T17:16:46.652Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}