第40章
《THE CATCHER IN THE RYE(麦田里的守望者英文版)》章节:第40章,宠文网网友提供全文无弹窗免费在线阅读。!
she said. "It's right on the wutchamacallit."
"Yeah, get it."
"Leave my wallet alone!"
"I awreddy got it," Sunny said. She waved five bucks at me. "See? All I'm takin' is
the five you owe me. I'm no crook."
All of a sudden I started to cry. I'd give anything if I hadn't, but I did. "No, you're
no crooks," I said. "You're just stealing five--"
"Shut up," old Maurice said, and gave me a shove.
"Leave him alone, hey," Sunny said. "C'mon, hey. We got the dough he owes us.
Let's go. C'mon, hey."
"I'm comin'," old Maurice said. But he didn't.
"I mean it, Maurice, hey. Leave him alone."
"Who's hurtin' anybody?" he said, innocent as hell. Then what he did, he snapped
his finger very hard on my pajamas. I won't tell you where he snapped it, but it hurt like
hell. I told him he was a goddam dirty moron. "What's that?" he said. He put his hand
behind his ear, like a deaf guy. "What's that? What am I?"
I was still sort of crying. I was so damn mad and nervous and all. "You're a dirty
moron," I said. "You're a stupid chiseling moron, and in about two years you'll be one of
those scraggy guys that come up to you on the street and ask for a dime for coffee. You'll
have snot all over your dirty filthy overcoat, and you'll be--"
Then he smacked me. I didn't even try to get out of the way or duck or anything.
All I felt was this terrific punch in my stomach.
I wasn't knocked out or anything, though, because I remember looking up from
the floor and seeing them both go out the door and shut it. Then I stayed on the floor a
fairly long time, sort of the way I did with Stradlater. Only, this time I thought I was
dying. I really did. I thought I was drowning or something. The trouble was, I could
hardly breathe. When I did finally get up, I had to walk to the bathroom all doubled up
and holding onto my stomach and all.
But I'm crazy. I swear to God I am. About halfway to the bathroom, I sort of
started pretending I had a bullet in my guts. Old 'Maurice had plugged me. Now I was on
the way to the bathroom to get a good shot of bourbon or something to steady my nerves
and help me really go into action. I pictured myself coming out of the goddam bathroom,
dressed and all, with my automatic in my pocket, and staggering around a little bit. Then
I'd walk downstairs, instead of using the elevator. I'd hold onto the banister and all, with
this blood trickling out of the side of my mouth a little at a time. What I'd do, I'd walk
down a few floors--holding onto my guts, blood leaking all over the place-- and then I'd
ring the elevator bell. As soon as old Maurice opened the doors, he'd see me with the
automatic in my hand and he'd start screaming at me, in this very high-pitched, yellow-
belly voice, to leave him alone. But I'd plug him anyway. Six shots right through his fat
hairy belly. Then I'd throw my automatic down the elevator shaft--after I'd wiped off all
the finger prints and all. Then I'd crawl back to my room and call up Jane and have her
come over and bandage up my guts. I pictured her holding a cigarette for me to smoke
while I was bleeding and all.
The goddam movies. They can ruin you. I'm not kidding.
en8848
I stayed in the bathroom for about an hour, taking a bath and all. Then I got back
in bed. It took me quite a while to get to sleep--I wasn't even tired--but finally I did. What
I really felt like, though, was committing suicide. I felt like jumping out the window. I
probably would've done it, too, if I'd been sure somebody'd cover me up as soon as I
landed. I didn't want a bunch of stupid rubbernecks looking at me when I was all gory.
15
I didn't sleep too long, because I think it was only around ten o'clock when I woke
up. I felt pretty hungry as soon as I had a cigarette. The last time I'd eaten was those two
hamburgers I had with Brossard and Ackley when we went in to Agerstown to the
movies. That was a long time ago. It seemed like fifty years ago. The phone was right
next to me, and I started to call down and have them send up some breakfast, but I was
sort of afraid they might send it up with old Maurice. If you think I was dying to see him
again, you're crazy. So I just laid around in bed for a while and smoked another cigarette.
I thought of giving old Jane a buzz, to see if she was home yet and all, but I wasn't in the
mood.
What I did do, I gave old Sally Hayes a buzz. She went to Mary A. Woodruff, and
I knew she was home because I'd had this letter from her a couple of weeks ago. I wasn't
too crazy about her, but I'd known her for years. I used to think she was quite intelligent,
in my stupidity. The reason I did was because she knew quite a lot about the theater and
plays and literature and all that stuff. If somebody knows quite a lot about those things, it
takes you quite a while to find out whether they're really stupid or not. It took me years to
find it out, in old Sally's case. I think I'd have found it out a lot sooner if we hadn't necked
so damn much. My big trouble is, I always sort of think whoever I'm necking is a pretty
intelligent person. It hasn't got a goddam thing to do with it, but I keep thinking it
anyway.
Anyway, I gave her a buzz. First the maid answered. Then her father. Then she
got on. "Sally?"