Elsie has a friend, Herbert, who is obviously trying to work up the courage to ask her to marry him. Herbert has a bad leg and walks with a crutch, and sometimes "the disease" comes back and brings more pain. (At first, when Herbert was described, it sounded as if he had broken his hip and it hadn't healed properly, but now that they keep mentioning "the disease," I have no idea what it is. My first thought was polio, but he was allowed to have visitors all the time when he was first sick, as long as they didn't tire him out too much, so that doesn't sound like polio at all. So I have no idea.) I'm kind of dreading what makes Elsie say she can't marry him.
These girls have the most beautiful dresses. And so do I -- how about that?
Kaylee ,'Shindig'
Spike's Bitches 44: It's about the rules having changed.
[NAFDA] Spike-centric discussion. Lusty, lewd (only occasionally crude), risqué (and frisqué), bawdy (Oh, lawdy!), flirty ('cuz we're purty), raunchy talk inside. Caveat lector.
Hil R. - Mar 18, 2009 11:08:18 am PDT #3914 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
Toddson - Mar 18, 2009 11:12:54 am PDT #3915 of 30000
Friends don't let friends read "Atlas Shrugged"
Daddy says no?
Scrappy - Mar 18, 2009 11:13:01 am PDT #3916 of 30000
Life moves pretty fast. You don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.
I bet he dies in a convenient, yet heartrending, fashion.
tommyrot - Mar 18, 2009 11:13:06 am PDT #3917 of 30000
Sir, it's not an offence to let your cat eat your bacon. Okay? And we don't arrest cats, I'm very sorry.
they keep mentioning "the disease," I have no idea what it is.
Syphilis?
Hil R. - Mar 18, 2009 11:17:20 am PDT #3918 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
Well, so far, the scene has ended with this:
Herbert, it will all have to be just as papa says. I belong to him, and cannot give myself away without his permission.
Before that, she'd given him several reasons why she couldn't marry him, all of which were essentially "we're too young" -- she's 15, and he just turned 16.
Ginger - Mar 18, 2009 11:18:26 am PDT #3919 of 30000
"It didn't taste good. It tasted soooo horrible. It tasted like....a vodka martini." - Matilda
they keep mentioning "the disease," I have no idea what it is.
Tuberculosis, I think.
Hil R. - Mar 18, 2009 11:19:38 am PDT #3920 of 30000
Sometimes I think I might just move up to Vermont, open a bookstore or a vegan restaurant. Adam Schlesinger, z''l
I thought tuberculosis would make him weak, but not cause pain and weakness in a specific joint like that. (And they keep mentioning it as his "limb," because apparently you don't say "leg" in mixed company.)
DavidS - Mar 18, 2009 11:19:56 am PDT #3921 of 30000
"Look, son, if it's good enough for Shirley Bassey, it's good enough for you."
I wonder if Herbert gets a miracle cure.
I'm slightly boggled by how closely the parent/child diction echoes contemporary B&D wording.
amych - Mar 18, 2009 11:20:38 am PDT #3922 of 30000
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
Before that, she'd given him several reasons why she couldn't marry him, all of which were essentially "we're too young" -- she's 15, and he just turned 16.
This is the most sensible thing she's said in the whole book.
amych - Mar 18, 2009 11:21:20 am PDT #3923 of 30000
Now let us crush something soft and watch it fountain blood. That is a girlish thing to want to do, yes?
And they keep mentioning it as his "limb,"
This does not in any way reduce my inner conviction that he has the Syphy.