{"id":"01KG6FHSF6GT76A2G709K87X8N","cid":"bafkreihql2faq5mr3l6uzd2axh43pgdgzou3i6b2kovclg3qx7x3l4kx7m","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreicho25wg6fssaackz4yx35obnfonjikcurghn66g3k2kzdsxb45zy","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"Rye_page_0004.jpg","height":2400,"key":"pdf-page-1769744163129-bgl5vflo05","label":"Rye_page_0004.jpg","page_number":4,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":690924,"text":"2\nThey each had their own room and all. They were both around seventy years old,\nor even more than that. They got a bang out of things, though--in a haif-assed way, of\ncourse. I know that sounds mean to say, but I don't mean it mean. I just mean that I used\nto think about old Spencer quite a lot, and if you thought about him too much, you\nwondered what the heck he was still living for. I mean he was all stooped over, and he\nhad very terrible posture, and in class, whenever he dropped a piece of chalk at the\nblackboard, some guy in the first row always had to get up and pick it up and hand it to\nhim. That's awful, in my opinion. But if you thought about him just enough and not too\nmuch, you could figure it out that he wasn't doing too bad for himself. For instance, one\nSunday when some other guys and I were over there for hot chocolate, he showed us this\nold beat-up Navajo blanket that he and Mrs. Spencer'd bought off some Indian in\nYellowstone Park. You could tell old Spencer'd got a big bang out of buying it. That's\nwhat I mean. You take somebody old as hell, like old Spencer, and they can get a big\nbang out of buying a blanket.\nHis door was open, but I sort of knocked on it anyway, just to be polite and all. I\ncould see where he was sitting. He was sitting in a big leather chair, all wrapped up in\nthat blanket I just told you about. He looked over at me when I knocked. \"Who's that?\" he\nyelled. \"Caulfield? Come in, boy.\" He was always yelling, outside class. It got on your\nnerves sometimes.\nThe minute I went in, I was sort of sorry I'd come. He was reading the Atlantic\nMonthly, and there were pills and medicine all over the place, and everything smelled\nlike Vicks Nose Drops. It was pretty depressing. I'm not too crazy about sick people,\nanyway. What made it even more depressing, old Spencer had on this very sad, ratty old\nbathrobe that he was probably born in or something. I don't much like to see old guys in\ntheir pajamas and bathrobes anyway. Their bumpy old chests are always showing. And\ntheir legs. Old guys' legs, at beaches and places, always look so white and unhairy.\n\"Hello, sir,\" I said. \"I got your note. Thanks a lot.\" He'd written me this note asking me to\nstop by and say good-by before vacation started, on account of I wasn't coming back.\n\"You didn't have to do all that. I'd have come over to say good-by anyway.\"\n\"Have a seat there, boy,\" old Spencer said. He meant the bed.\nI sat down on it. \"How's your grippe, sir?\"\n\"M'boy, if I felt any better I'd have to send for the doctor,\" old Spencer said. That\nknocked him out. He started chuckling like a madman. Then he finally straightened\nhimself out and said, \"Why aren't you down at the game? I thought this was the day of the\nbig game.\"\n\"It is. I was. Only, I just got back from New York with the fencing team,\" I said.\nBoy, his bed was like a rock.\nHe started getting serious as hell. I knew he would. \"So you're leaving us, eh?\" he\nsaid.\n\"Yes, sir. I guess I am.\"\nHe started going into this nodding routine. You never saw anybody nod as much\nin your life as old Spencer did. You never knew if he was nodding a lot because he was\nthinking and all, or just because he was a nice old guy that didn't know his ass from his\nelbow.","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:36:03.129Z","text_extracted_by":"pdf-processor","text_has_content":true,"text_source":"born_digital","uploaded":true,"width":1855},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFHMJM2J9JHQAQM1Q9SKBJWF","predicate":"derived_from"},{"peer":"01KFF1K6A8V452X8SQKY55DD16","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6FHT83YNWW5VX00GJ0DNTR","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6FHT4CAQ6JFV441QVVNJEP","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KG6FJRDSTQ0ZTX4EX0A9SH5S","peer_label":"Rye_page_0004_medium.jpg","peer_type":"file","predicate":"has_derivative"},{"peer":"01KG6FJVXMX3KJP35GGCRRNZ62","peer_label":"Rye_page_0004_thumb.jpg","peer_type":"file","predicate":"has_derivative"},{"peer":"01KG6FT59BXAZ3C5HRJ6SW8F58","predicate":"has_assembly"}],"ver":6,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:36:04.326Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:40:41.615Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFC4A8W8939TXGEXCK439ZK"}}