第19章
《THE CATCHER IN THE RYE(麦田里的守望者英文版)》章节:第19章,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
I didn't turn it off right away, though. I just kept laying there on Ely's bed,
thinking about Jane and all. It just drove me stark staring mad when I thought about her
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and Stradlater parked somewhere in that fat-assed Ed Banky's car. Every time I thought
about it, I felt like jumping out the window. The thing is, you didn't know Stradlater. I
knew him. Most guys at Pencey just talked about having sexual intercourse with girls all
the time--like Ackley, for instance--but old Stradlater really did it. I was personally
acquainted with at least two girls he gave the time to. That's the truth.
"Tell me the story of your fascinating life, Ackley kid," I said.
"How 'bout turning off the goddam light? I gotta get up for Mass in the morning."
I got up and turned it off, if it made him happy. Then I laid down on Ely's bed
again.
"What're ya gonna do--sleep in Ely's bed?" Ackley said. He was the perfect host,
boy.
"I may. I may not. Don't worry about it."
"I'm not worried about it. Only, I'd hate like hell if Ely came in all of a sudden and
found some guy--"
"Relax. I'm not gonna sleep here. I wouldn't abuse your goddam hospitality."
A couple of minutes later, he was snoring like mad. I kept laying there in the dark
anyway, though, trying not to think about old Jane and Stradlater in that goddam Ed
Banky's car. But it was almost impossible. The trouble was, I knew that guy Stradlater's
technique. That made it even worse. We once double-dated, in Ed Banky's car, and
Stradlater was in the back, with his date, and I was in the front with mine. What a
technique that guy had. What he'd do was, he'd start snowing his date in this very quiet,
sincere voice--like as if he wasn't only a very handsome guy but a nice, sincere guy, too. I
damn near puked, listening to him. His date kept saying, "No--please. Please, don't.
Please." But old Stradlater kept snowing her in this Abraham Lincoln, sincere voice, and
finally there'd be this terrific silence in the back of the car. It was really embarrassing. I
don't think he gave that girl the time that night--but damn near. Damn near.
While I was laying there trying not to think, I heard old Stradlater come back
from the can and go in our room. You could hear him putting away his crumby toilet
articles and all, and opening the window. He was a fresh-air fiend. Then, a little while
later, he turned off the light. He didn't even look around to see where I was at.
/> It was even depressing out in the street. You couldn't even hear any cars any
more. I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up.
"Hey, Ackley," I said, in sort of a whisper, so Stradlater couldn't hear me through
the shower curtain.
Ackley didn't hear me, though.
"Hey, Ackley!"
He still didn't hear me. He slept like a rock.
"Hey, Ackley!"
He heard that, all right.
"What the hell's the matter with you?" he said. "I was asleep, for Chrissake."
"Listen. What's the routine on joining a monastery?" I asked him. I was sort of
toying with the idea of joining one. "Do you have to be a Catholic and all?"
"Certainly you have to be a Catholic. You bastard, did you wake me just to ask
me a dumb ques--"
"Aah, go back to sleep. I'm not gonna join one anyway. The kind of luck I have,
I'd probably join one with all the wrong kind of monks in it. All stupid bastards. Or just
bastards."
When I said that, old Ackley sat way the hell up in bed. "Listen," he said, "I don't
care what you say about me or anything, but if you start making cracks about my goddam
religion, for Chrissake--"
"Relax," I said. "Nobody's making any cracks about your goddam religion." I got
up off Ely's bed, and started towards the door. I didn't want to hang around in that stupid
atmosphere any more. I stopped on the way, though, and picked up Ackley's hand, and
gave him a big, phony handshake. He pulled it away from me. "What's the idea?"