{"id":"01KG6FVJ747Z081AHZ03NZ222A","cid":"bafkreiagkfal32kfuu7mlh443ypcf4jawkqhajzpenscxz2aqqimdz5t5m","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2750,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:41:20.744Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 3","source_file":"01KG6FT59BXAZ3C5HRJ6SW8F58","start_line":2703,"text":"sat down next to me at the counter. They didn't seem to know what the hell to do with\ntheir suitcases, so I gave them a hand. They were these very inexpensive-looking\nsuitcases--the ones that aren't genuine leather or anything. It isn't important, I know, but I\nhate it when somebody has cheap suitcases. It sounds terrible to say it, but I can even get\nto hate somebody, just looking at them, if they have cheap suitcases with them.\nSomething happened once. For a while when I was at Elkton Hills, I roomed with this\nboy, Dick Slagle, that had these very inexpensive suitcases. He used to keep them under\nthe bed, instead of on the rack, so that nobody'd see them standing next to mine. It\ndepressed holy hell out of me, and I kept wanting to throw mine out or something, or\n\n<!-- [Page 59](arke:01KG6FHT9PJ6YV794Q1DY9H3KK) -->\neven trade with him. Mine came from Mark Cross, and they were genuine cowhide and\nall that crap, and I guess they cost quite a pretty penny. But it was a funny thing. Here's\nwhat happened. What I did, I finally put my suitcases under my bed, instead of on the\nrack, so that old Slagle wouldn't get a goddam inferiority complex about it. But here's\nwhat he did. The day after I put mine under my bed, he took them out and put them back\non the rack. The reason he did it, it took me a while to find out, was because he wanted\npeople to think my bags were his. He really did. He was a very funny guy, that way. He\nwas always saying snotty things about them, my suitcases, for instance. He kept saying\nthey were too new and bourgeois. That was his favorite goddam word. He read it\nsomewhere or heard it somewhere. Everything I had was bourgeois as hell. Even my\nfountain pen was bourgeois. He borrowed it off me all the time, but it was bourgeois\nanyway. We only roomed together about two months. Then we both asked to be moved.\nAnd the funny thing was, I sort of missed him after we moved, because he had a helluva\ngood sense of humor and we had a lot of fun sometimes. I wouldn't be surprised if he\nmissed me, too. At first he only used to be kidding when he called my stuff bourgeois,\nand I didn't give a damn--it was sort of funny, in fact. Then, after a while, you could tell\nhe wasn't kidding any more. The thing is, it's really hard to be roommates with people if\nyour suitcases are much better than theirs--if yours are really good ones and theirs aren't.\nYou think if they're intelligent and all, the other person, and have a good sense of humor,\nthat they don't give a damn whose suitcases are better, but they do. They really do. It's\none of the reasons why I roomed with a stupid bastard like Stradlater. At least his\nsuitcases were as good as mine.\nAnyway, these two nuns were sitting next to me, and we sort of struck up a\nconversation. The one right next to me had one of those straw baskets that you see nuns\nand Salvation Army babes collecting dough with around Christmas time. You see them\nstanding on corners, especially on Fifth Avenue, in front of the big department stores and\nall. Anyway, the one next to me dropped hers on the floor and I reached down and picked\nit up for her. I asked her if she was out collecting money for charity and all. She said no.\nShe said she couldn't get it in her suitcase when she was packing it and she was just\ncarrying it. She had a pretty nice smile when she looked at you. She had a big nose, and\nshe had on those glasses with sort of iron rims that aren't too attractive, but she had a\nhelluva kind face. \"I thought if you were taking up a collection,\" I told her, \"I could make\na small contribution. You could keep the money for when you do take up a collection.\"\n\"Oh, how very kind of you,\" she said, and the other one, her friend, looked over at\nme. The other one was reading a little black book while she drank her coffee. It looked\nlike a Bible, but it was too skinny. It was a Bible-type book, though. All the two of them\nwere eating for breakfast was toast and coffee. That depressed me. I hate it if I'm eating","title":"Chunk 3"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6FV1MQBQ4XVF8SXRB85SZ2","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FT59BXAZ3C5HRJ6SW8F58","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KFF1K6A8V452X8SQKY55DD16","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6FVJ6YZ9F4JTVH67M50J3S","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6FVJ74B4QDFXC8G219GPDJ","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:41:24.580Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:41:30.273Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}