Chapter 8

It wasn't too far to the station so I walked, it was cold as hell outside. I sort of enjoyed the fresh air though. The cold hurt my nose but my ears were nice and warm, I had the earlaps down, I didn't give a damn how i looked. I like riding on trains, I travel quite often, I especially like it at night. I took off my hat just as this lady got on at Trenton and sat down next to me. She stuck her bag right out in the isle. She was around forty or forty-five but she was very good looking. Women kill me. They really do. I don't mean i'm oversexed or anything - although i am quite sexy. She saw my Pencey Prep sticker and we got talkin, turns out her son went there too. When she asked my name I told her Rudolf Schmidt, I didn't feel like giving her my life story. Rudolf Schmidt was the janitor of our dorm. I felt bad after lying to her so I asked her about her son, mother's like nothing better than talking about there children. His name was Ernset, he was in my class and all. I talked him up for a bit saying he adapts very well to things. I suppose I got a little carried away but she seemed happy. After a while she looked me and asked why I was going home so early, she thought something might have been wrong at home. I reassured her everything was fine with my family, I said I had to have an operation. She was very concerned and all, I said I had a tiny tumor on my brain. She put her hand up to her mouth, I just told her i'd be fine because it was on the outside of my brain. I had to start reading this timetable I had in my pocket to stop lying.