Ackley kid

It was even depressing out on the street. You couldn’t hear any cars anymore. I got feeling so lonesome and rotten, I even felt like waking Ackley up. Ackley slept like a rock. I was sort of toying with the idea of joining a monastery. 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. I got off Ely’s bed, and started towards the door. I didn’t want to hang around in that stupid atmosphere anymore. I stopped on the way, though and picked up Ackley’s hand, and gave him a big phoney handshake. He’s a prince Ackley kid. I shut the door and went down the corridor.

Ackley's room

The room stank. I could smell Ackley’s socks from way a way. I asked him if he ever sent them to the laundry. ‘if you don’t like it, you know what you can do’. He is such a witty guy. I just lay there on Ely’s bed, thinking of Jane and all. It just made me stark staring mad when I thought about her and Stradlater parked somewhere in that fat-assed Ed Banky’s car. Every time I thought about it, I felt like jumping out of 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 so personally acquainted with at least two girls he gave me the time to. That’s the truth. I got up and turn off the light then laid back down on Ely’s bed again. I kept lying there in the dark, trying not to think about old Jane and Stradlater. But it was almost impossible. The trouble is I knew Stradlater’s techniques. That made it even worse. We once double dated. Stradlater was in the was in the back with his date and I was in the front with mine. He’d start snowing his date in this very quiet, sincere voice - like as if he wasn’t only very handsome guy but a nice, sincere guy, too. I damn near puked, listening to him. I don’t think he gave that girl time that night- but damn near. Damn near.

Chapter 7

I could see him lying in bed. I knew damn well he was wide awake. It was pretty dark, and I step on somebody’s shoe on the floor and damn near fell on my head. He had a lot of white stuff on his face, for his pimples. He looked sort of spooky in the dark. I told him I had a goddam tiff with Stradlater, then sat down on the floor. They never had any chairs in their room. I never discussed my personal life with him. In the first place he was even more stupid than Stradlater. Stradlater was a good damn genius next to Ackley. He’s a prince old Ackley he really is. I got up and went over and looked out the window. I felt so lonesome, all of a sudden. I wished I was dead. ‘what was the fight about anyhow’ Ackley said for the fiftieth time. ‘About you’ I said. I was defending your goddam honour. Stradlater said Ackley had a lousy personality. I couldn’t let him get away with that stuff. I told him I was only kidding and then I went over and laid down on Ely’s bed. Boy, did I feel rotten. I felt so damn lonesome.

The fight

I tried to sock him, with all my might, right smack in the toothbrush, so it would split his goddam throat open. Only I missed. I didn’t connect. I sort of hit him on the side of the head. It probably would’ve hurt him a lot, but I did it with my right hand, and I cant make a good fist with that hand. On account of my injury. The next thing I knew, I was on the goddam floor and he was sitting on my chest, with his face all red. He had his goddam knees on my chest, and he weighed about a ton. He had hold of my wrists, too, so I couldn’t take another sock at him. I’d’ve killed him. He kept calling me a sonovabitch and all, for around ten hours. I told him he didn’t even care if a girl kept all her kings in the back or not, and the reason he didn’t was because he was a goddam moron. He hated it when you called him a moron. He got really mad. Then he let one go at me, and the next thing I knew I was on the floor again. I don’t remember if he knocked me out or not, but I don’t think so. But my nose was bleeding all over the place. I didn’t even bother to get up, I just lay on the floor calling him a sonovabitch. I was so mad. I told him to stop of and go a give Mrs Schmidt the time. She was the goddam janitors wife. She was around sixty-five. I couldn’t find my goddam hunting hat anywhere. I’m not too tough I’m a pacifist. I had a feeling old Ackley’d probably heard all the racket. So I went through the shower curtain into his room. It always had a funny stink in it, because he was so crumby in his personal habits.

Jane

'Did you go to New York' I said. ‘Ya Crazy? How the hell could we go to New York if she only signed out for nine-thirty. 'Did you give him my regard'? I asked him. ‘Yeah’. the hell he did, the bastard. 'If you didn’t go to New York with her where did you go'? I could hardly keep my voice from shaking all over the place. I had a feeling something had gone funny. ‘Nowhere, we just sat in the goddam car. Who’s car I said?. Ed Banky’s. Ed Banky was the basketball coach at Pencey. Old Stradlater was one of his pets, because he was the centre of the team. Stradlater kept taking these shadow punches down at my shoulder. ‘What did you do’ I said?. ‘Give her the time in Ed Banky’s goddam car’. my voice was shaking something awful.

Room

All of a sudden he said ‘for chrissake, Holden. This is about a goddam baseball glove’. you said it had to be descriptive. What the hells the difference if it’s a baseball glove. He was sore as hell. He was really furious. I went over and pulled it out of his hands. Then I tore it up and through it into the waste paper basket. Then I lay down on my be and lit a cigarette. You weren’t allowed to smoke in the dorm, but you could if everyone was asleep or out and nobody could smell the smoke. Besides I did it to annoy Stradlater. It drove him crazy when you broke any rules.

Chapter 6 Stadlater and I

Some things are hard to remember, I mean I cant remember exactly what I was doing when I heard Stradlater’s goddam stupid footsteps down the corridor. I swear I cant remember. I was so damn worried that’s why. When I really worry about something I don’t just foul around. I even have to go to the bathroom when I worry about something. Only I don’t go, I’m to worried to go. If you knew Stradlater you would have been worried too, I’d double dated with that bastard a couple of times, and I know what am talking about. He was unscrupulous. He really was. He came in griping about how cold it was. He started getting undressed, he didn’t say one goddam word about Jane. He asked me if I had written his goddam composition for him. I told him it was over on his goddam bed. He stood their reading it, and sort of stroking his bare chest and stomach, with a stupid expression on his face. He was always stroking his stomach or his chest. He was mad about himself.