{"id":"01KG6FHSG7MNMGAMHSCKZDTK78","cid":"bafkreihiptd27qe5ajywaeancxhsuyfziqkwczupymtis4nodjuaj3564a","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreiglkcc4liujdo5icpur7mzs236njzg3aul65ldbs7yf6xspvs4tz4","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"Rye_page_0031.jpg","height":2400,"key":"pdf-page-1769744163146-azx3clo1chv","label":"Rye_page_0031.jpg","page_number":31,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":667025,"text":"She looked nice, smoking. She inhaled and all, but she didn't wolf the smoke\ndown, the way most women around her age do. She had a lot of charm. She had quite a\nlot of sex appeal, too, if you really want to know.\nShe was looking at me sort of funny. I may be wrong but I believe your nose is\nbleeding, dear, she said, all of a sudden.\nI nodded and took out my handkerchief. \"I got hit with a snowball,\" I said. \"One\nof those very icy ones.\" I probably would've told her what really happened, but it\nwould've taken too long. I liked her, though. I was beginning to feel sort of sorry I'd told\nher my name was Rudolf Schmidt. \"Old Ernie,\" I said. \"He's one of the most popular\nboys at Pencey. Did you know that?\"\n\"No, I didn't.\"\nI nodded. \"It really took everybody quite a long time to get to know him. He's a\nfunny guy. A strange guy, in lots of ways--know what I mean? Like when I first met him.\nWhen I first met him, I thought he was kind of a snobbish person. That's what I thought.\nBut he isn't. He's just got this very original personality that takes you a little while to get\nto know him.\"\nOld Mrs. Morrow didn't say anything, but boy, you should've seen her. I had her\nglued to her seat. You take somebody's mother, all they want to hear about is what a hot-\nshot their son is.\nThen I really started chucking the old crap around. \"Did he tell you about the\nelections?\" I asked her. \"The class elections?\"\nShe shook her head. I had her in a trance, like. I really did.\n\"Well, a bunch of us wanted old Ernie to be president of the class. I mean he was\nthe unanimous choice. I mean he was the only boy that could really handle the job,\" I\nsaid--boy, was I chucking it. \"But this other boy--Harry Fencer--was elected. And the\nreason he was elected, the simple and obvious reason, was because Ernie wouldn't let us\nnominate him. Because he's so darn shy and modest and all. He refused. . . Boy, he's\nreally shy. You oughta make him try to get over that.\" I looked at her. \"Didn't he tell you\nabout it?\"\n\"No, he didn't.\"\nI nodded. \"That's Ernie. He wouldn't. That's the one fault with him--he's too shy\nand modest. You really oughta get him to try to relax occasionally.\"\nRight that minute, the conductor came around for old Mrs. Morrow's ticket, and it\ngave me a chance to quit shooting it. I'm glad I shot it for a while, though. You take a guy\nlike Morrow that's always snapping their towel at people's asses--really trying to hurt\nsomebody with it--they don't just stay a rat while they're a kid. They stay a rat their whole\nlife. But I'll bet, after all the crap I shot, Mrs. Morrow'll keep thinking of him now as this\nvery shy, modest guy that wouldn't let us nominate him for president. She might. You\ncan't tell. Mothers aren't too sharp about that stuff.\n\"Would you care for a cocktail?\" I asked her. I was feeling in the mood for one\nmyself. \"We can go in the club car. All right?\"\n\"Dear, are you allowed to order drinks?\" she asked me. Not snotty, though. She\nwas too charming and all to be snotty.\n\"Well, no, not exactly, but I can usually get them on account of my heighth,\" I\nsaid. \"And I have quite a bit of gray hair.\" I turned sideways and showed her my gray","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:36:03.146Z","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":"01KG6FHSHVQ7HKC48JBV8B8H9X","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6FHSHEBFKNEW1D33VDMGRC","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KG6FK9VDPZ5PCK1QMQYZWEHS","peer_label":"Rye_page_0031_medium.jpg","peer_type":"file","predicate":"has_derivative"},{"peer":"01KG6FKDCEEJ7DF634AG38DY41","peer_label":"Rye_page_0031_thumb.jpg","peer_type":"file","predicate":"has_derivative"},{"peer":"01KG6FT59BXAZ3C5HRJ6SW8F58","predicate":"has_assembly"}],"ver":6,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:36:04.359Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:40:41.655Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFC4A8W8939TXGEXCK439ZK"}}