{"id":"01KG07DPXEYMV90ZEY4QMCEXVZ","cid":"bafkreicxx7digsdy6b6aeiyxnugcqrvdte5zkyk6q3h6npnsv3rewk4qpi","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":4988,"extracted_at":"2026-01-27T17:18:35.109Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 11","source_file":"01KFYTG9MG93RTB6YAW34V48XG","start_line":4944,"text":" 4733\tthe poor guy had to lace one shoe all the way up. It was a dirty trick, but it killed old\n 4734\tPhoebe. We finally bought a pair of moccasins and charged them. The salesman was very\n 4735\tnice about it. I think he knew we were horsing around, because old Phoebe always starts\n 4736\tgiggling.\n 4737\tAnyway, I kept walking and walking up Fifth Avenue, without any tie on or\n 4738\tanything. Then all of a sudden, something very spooky started happening. Every time I\n 4739\tcame to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam curb, I had this feeling that I'd\n 4740\tnever get to the other side of the street. I thought I'd just go down, down, down, and\n 4741\tnobody'd ever see me again. Boy, did it scare me. You can't imagine. I started sweating\n 4742\tlike a bastard--my whole shirt and underwear and everything. Then I started doing\n 4743\tsomething else. Every time I'd get to the end of a block I'd make believe I was talking to\n 4744\tmy brother Allie. I'd say to him, \"Allie, don't let me disappear. Allie, don't let me\n 4745\tdisappear. Allie, don't let me disappear. Please, Allie.\" And then when I'd reach the other\n 4746\tside of the street without disappearing, I'd thank him. Then it would start all over again as\n 4747\tsoon as I got to the next corner. But I kept going and all. I was sort of afraid to stop, I\n 4748\tthink--I don't remember, to tell you the truth. I know I didn't stop till I was way up in the\n 4749\tSixties, past the zoo and all. Then I sat down on this bench. I could hardly get my breath,\n 4750\tand I was still sweating like a bastard. I sat there, I guess, for about an hour. Finally, what\n 4751\tI decided I'd do, I decided I'd go away. I decided I'd never go home again and I'd never\n 4752\tgo away to another school again. I decided I'd just see old Phoebe and sort of say good-\n 4753\tby to her and all, and give her back her Christmas dough, and then I'd start hitchhiking\n 4754\tmy way out West. What I'd do, I figured, I'd go down to the Holland Tunnel and bum a\n 4755\tride, and then I'd bum another one, and another one, and another one, and in a few days\n 4756\tI'd be somewhere out West where it was very pretty and sunny and where nobody'd know\n 4757\tme and I'd get a job. I figured I could get a job at a filling station somewhere, putting gas\n\n\n 4758\tand oil in people's cars. I didn't care what kind of job it was, though. Just so people didn't\n 4759\tknow me and I didn't know anybody. I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of\n 4760\tthose deaf-mutes. That way I wouldn't have to have any goddam stupid useless\n 4761\tconversations with anybody. If anybody wanted to tell me something, they'd have to\n 4762\twrite it on a piece of paper and shove it over to me. They'd get bored as hell doing that\n 4763\tafter a while, and then I'd be through with having conversations for the rest of my life.\n 4764\tEverybody'd think I was just a poor deaf-mute bastard and they'd leave me alone. They'd\n 4765\tlet me put gas and oil in their stupid cars, and they'd pay me a salary and all for it, and I'd\n 4766\tbuild me a little cabin somewhere with the dough I made and live there for the rest of my\n 4767\tlife. I'd build it right near the woods, but not right in them, because I'd want it to be sunny\n 4768\tas hell all the time. I'd cook all my own food, and later on, if I wanted to get married or\n 4769\tsomething, I'd meet this beautiful girl that was also a deaf-mute and we'd get married.\n 4770\tShe'd come and live in my cabin with me, and if she wanted to say anything to me, she'd\n 4771\thave to write it on a goddam piece of paper, like everybody else. If we had any children,\n 4772\twe'd hide them somewhere. We could buy them a lot of books and teach them how to\n 4773\tread and write by ourselves.\n 4774\tI got excited as hell thinking about it. I really did. I knew the part about\n 4775\tpretending I was a deaf-mute was crazy, but I liked thinking about it anyway. But I really","title":"Chunk 11"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG0725KRV1Y3Q27GR0RPHVES","peer_label":"24","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-27T17:18:35.703Z","ts":"2026-01-27T17:18:35.703Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}