Young Lonigan - James T. Farrell [257]
“Yeah, I guess you are.”
“Now, you goddamn dirty skunk, show me that you’re a man.”
“I always aim to please.”
“Come on over here, and show me. I had plenty, and I’m particular. Particular, I said. You got to prove it to me,” she said, looking him over with a sneer.
“You got the right telephone number this time, girlie.”
V
“Hey, Swede, don’t. Lay off that bitch. She’s got a dose.”
“Listen, you ain’t a man till you got it,” Swede said.
“Well, don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
Swede took the pig into one of the bedrooms.
VI
“Say, Dan,” said Vinc Curley.
“Yeah,” said O’Doul, as he stood in a corner, sheiked out, and unrumpled.
“Want to go to the Tivoli tomorrow afternoon?”
“For Christ sake, hop in the bowl.”
Dapper Dan turned his back. Vinc looked puzzled.
VII
“Say, kiddo, listen! Give Doyle here a break!” Slug commanded.
“You know. I can’t,” Slug’s blond jane protested.
“It ain’t nothin’.”
“I don’t mind you, dearie, when I’m this way because I love you, but nobody else. That goes!”
“Come on, kid. I won’t hurt you,” Tommy Doyle said, his drunken face full of lust.
“No!”
“Go ahead, and do it, or it’s the gate!” Slug said, shoving her.
She looked at him with eyes of meek protest.
“Hear me!” snapped Slug.
She went into a bedroom with Tommy.
VIII
“I’ll tell you why I’m drunk,” Shorty Leach said, letting the tears stream down his cheek.
“Sing ’em! Sing ’em!” Joe Moonan said.
“You didn’t know my girl, Pearl. Well, I love Pearl. I love her.”
Joe vanished. Shorty buttonholed Les, who looked thin and pale.
“Here, kid, have a drink and brace up,” said Les.
Shorty took the bottle and drank.
“I love Pearl. And she’s out with Jack Morgan tonight. Now Morgan stole my girl. He’s a nice guy, and I always liked him, but he’s out with Pearl, and I’m crazy about her.”
“Sing ’em, kid!”
“Have you ever been in love? Well, I have. You know I was out riding with Pearl. And she took and held my head in her hands and she looked into my eyes, and she said: ‘There’s something about you that makes me crazy.’ That’s what she said. And I tell you, if you’ve never been in love, you don’t know how I felt. And then I looked out at the moon, and she did, and Jesus, I’ve never had a feeling like that before. And I thought she was straight, and now she went out with Morgan.”
“Here, kid, have a drink, and brace up. The first hundred years is the hardest.”
Shorty drank.
“But I tell you I wouldn’t be drunk if I was with Pearl because I love and respect her too much. I love that girl,” sobbed Shorty, putting his head on Les’ shoulder.
IX
“Whoops!” yelled Studs, standing in the doorway.
They wished him Happy New Year. Slug handed him a bottle, and said bottoms up. Studs drank. The New Year bells rang. Everybody drank, and shouted, and a naked girl rushed from one of the bedrooms to kiss everyone. They had to hold Vinc while she kissed him.
“Whooopsi It’s 1929!” yelled Studs, raising an empty gin bottle with an unsteady arm.
X
“Where you going, Joe?” asked Red.
“I can’t telephone here with this noise, and I want to call my mother. I do every New Year’s.”
“Wish her a Happy New Year for me,” said Red.
Moonan went out.
XI
Vinc heard a moan. Then, he heard a girl sobbing. He rushed through the opened door of a bedroom, and turned on the light. He saw Benny Taite and a girl.
“Is there anything wrong?” he said, breathless and embarrassed.
“For Christ sake, who let you in, monkey face?” the girl asked.
“You goddamn idiot!” said Taite.
Taite went at Vinc. He socked Vine. Vinc lost his temper and rushed Taite like a bull, socked him, knocked him down, and stood over him, yelling:
“Come on! Come on!”
A crowd gathered. Some of them laughed. Red dragged Vinc off, and told him to get the hell out of the place.
“But he hit me!” said Vinc.
“I told you to blow!”
“He hit me. And I paid my money. I won’t.”
“Will you shut up, you bastard?”
“Gimme my money back, or I’ll call the police,” whined Vinc.
“Let me handle the mutt,” said Slug.
“Listen, seal your trap and there’s the door,” Slug said.
“I’m gonna tell my