Page 431 - tender-is-the-night

looked at anything less than a ballerina!’
Nicole was glad he had known so many women, so that
the word itself meant nothing to him; she would be able to
hold him so long as the person in her transcended the uni-
versals of her body.
‘Hit him where it hurts!’
‘Yah-h-h-h!’
‘Hey, what I tell you get inside that right!’
‘Come on, Dulschmit, you son!’
‘YAA-YAA!’
‘YA-YEH-YAH!’
Tommy turned away.
‘This place seems to have outlived its usefulness, you
agree?’
She agreed, but they clung together for a moment be-
fore dressing, and then for a while longer it seemed as good
enough a palace as any... .
Dressing at last Tommy exclaimed:
‘MY GOD, those two women in the rocking-chairs on
the balcony below us haven’t moved. They’re trying to talk
this matter out of existence. They’re here on an economical
holiday, and all the American navy and all the whores in
Europe couldn’t spoil it.’
He came over gently and surrounded her, pulling the
shoulder strap of her slip into place with his teeth; then a
sound split the air outside: Cr-ACK—BOOM-M-m-m! It
was the battleship sounding a recall.
Now, down below their window, it was pandemo-
nium indeed—for the boat was moving to shores as yet

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