{"id":"01KG6FHT8T2P19526P7C60D9Z7","cid":"bafkreiehce72m32vvlehvnbkyghmefeefig4aasftgprdhlljyvd3cgopa","type":"file","properties":{"cid":"bafkreifpddxgtbbzonnvcev4yv3g32q6c45sov2tcsmxzxdidtnx665ixa","content_type":"image/jpeg","filename":"Rye_page_0070.jpg","height":2400,"key":"pdf-page-1769744163166-uvf0kisgn6b","label":"Rye_page_0070.jpg","page_number":70,"pdf_type":"born_digital","size":676646,"text":"the sonuvabitch wouldn't bring me one, so I had a Coke, too. Then I sort of started\nlighting matches. I do that quite a lot when I'm in a certain mood. I sort of let them burn\ndown till I can't hold them any more, then I drop them in the ashtray. It's a nervous habit.\nThen all of a sudden, out of a clear blue sky, old Sally said, \"Look. I have to\nknow. Are you or aren't you coming over to help me trim the tree Christmas Eve? I have\nto know.\" She was still being snotty on account of her ankles when she was skating.\n\"I wrote you I would. You've asked me that about twenty times. Sure, I am.\"\n\"I mean I have to know,\" she said. She started looking all around the goddam\nroom.\nAll of a sudden I quit lighting matches, and sort of leaned nearer to her over the\ntable. I had quite a few topics on my mind. \"Hey, Sally,\" I said.\n\"What?\" she said. She was looking at some girl on the other side of the room.\n\"Did you ever get fed up?\" I said. \"I mean did you ever get scared that everything\nwas going to go lousy unless you did something? I mean do you like school, and all that\nstuff?\"\n\"It's a terrific bore.\"\n\"I mean do you hate it? I know it's a terrific bore, but do you hate it, is what I\nmean.\"\n\"Well, I don't exactly hate it. You always have to--\"\n\"Well, I hate it. Boy, do I hate it,\" I said. \"But it isn't just that. It's everything. I\nhate living in New York and all. Taxicabs, and Madison Avenue buses, with the drivers\nand all always yelling at you to get out at the rear door, and being introduced to phony\nguys that call the Lunts angels, and going up and down in elevators when you just want to\ngo outside, and guys fitting your pants all the time at Brooks, and people always--\"\n\"Don't shout, please,\" old Sally said. Which was very funny, because I wasn't\neven shouting.\n\"Take cars,\" I said. I said it in this very quiet voice. \"Take most people, they're\ncrazy about cars. They worry if they get a little scratch on them, and they're always\ntalking about how many miles they get to a gallon, and if they get a brand-new car\nalready they start thinking about trading it in for one that's even newer. I don't even like\nold cars. I mean they don't even interest me. I'd rather have a goddam horse. A horse is at\nleast human, for God's sake. A horse you can at least--\"\n\"I don't know what you're even talking about,\" old Sally said. \"You jump from\none--\"\n\"You know something?\" I said. \"You're probably the only reason I'm in New\nYork right now, or anywhere. If you weren't around, I'd probably be someplace way the\nhell off. In the woods or some goddam place. You're the only reason I'm around,\npractically.\"\n\"You're sweet,\" she said. But you could tell she wanted me to change the damn\nsubject.\n\"You ought to go to a boys' school sometime. Try it sometime,\" I said. \"It's full of\nphonies, and all you do is study so that you can learn enough to be smart enough to be\nable to buy a goddam Cadillac some day, and you have to keep making believe you give\na damn if the football team loses, and all you do is talk about girls and liquor and sex all\nday, and everybody sticks together in these dirty little goddam cliques. The guys that are\non the basketball team stick together, the Catholics stick together, the goddam","text_extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:36:03.166Z","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":"01KG6FHSKFBNEJBMJA0HVPH65Z","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6FHT97NS5074NKAM16QNS9","predicate":"next"},{"peer":"01KG6FM5ZFZEF1GK198V8YNE6P","peer_label":"Rye_page_0070_medium.jpg","peer_type":"file","predicate":"has_derivative"},{"peer":"01KG6FM9DT38S7ST7C3A2VP146","peer_label":"Rye_page_0070_thumb.jpg","peer_type":"file","predicate":"has_derivative"},{"peer":"01KG6FT59BXAZ3C5HRJ6SW8F58","predicate":"has_assembly"}],"ver":6,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:36:05.146Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:40:41.716Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFFC4A8W8939TXGEXCK439ZK"}}