Summer of '42

When I was 15, and my family

came to the island for the summer...

... there weren't nearly as many houses

or people as there are now.

The geography of the island

and the singularity of the sea...

... were far more noticeable then.

And if a guy wasn't to die of loneliness,

his family made certain...

... that other families from his neighborhood

contributed other kids to the island.

Look out, Hermie.

Look out.

Present with me in the summer of '42...

... were Oscy, my best friend.

And Benjie, my next to best friend.

We called ourselves "The Terrible Trio. "

And that house up there...

... that was her house.

And nothing, from that first day I saw her...

... and no one

that has happened to me since...

... has ever been as frightening

and as confusing.

For no person I've ever known...

... has ever done more

to make me feeI more sure...

... more insecure...

... more important...

... and less significant.

He's gonna take her

right into that bedroom.

He better put the wood down first.

Funny.

Hey, come on!

Oscy, for Christ's sakes!

Hey, come on, Hermie.

Will you move your ass, please?

Give it back, Oscy!

Boy, I'd like to feel every one of those girls.

You know, I should've tripped on them.

They'd never know I was getting a feel.

That's not the way to do it.

So what is the way to do it?

You have to say things.

All right, so I'll say, ''Excuse me. ''

You know what I mean.

You just can't go up to a girl

and fall on her.

- It isn't done.

- Why not?

I did it with Gladys Potter.

She was only 12 years old.

What did she know?

I don't know.

She didn't seem to mind though.

Well, she was surprised.

Hell, so was I. She had nothing to feel.

Come on, Benjie, stop dragging.

I don't know what's gonna become of him.

He has no emotions.

He's just confused.

Yeah. So am I.

I've been waking up lately,

in the middle of the night.

A lot.

Yeah, that's okay. I do, too.

- You do?

- Yeah.

I wake up feeling crazy

and thinking about Vera Miller.

- So what?

- So, I hate Vera Miller.

Jesus!

You think I'm in love with her?

I don't know.

I hope I'm not in love with her. I hate her!

What kind of thoughts

do you have about her?

Well, I forget.

- Then how can I help you?

- Who the hell is asking you to help me?

- What are you guys talking about?

- Nothing you'd understand.

Screw you!

Yeah, that's your whole problem, Benjie.

You're only interested in screwing me.

- Why don't you try screwing a girl?

- Okay.

''Okay,'' he says. Boy, that's something.

- You wouldn't know the first thing to do.

- I would so!

Okay, what's the first thing you do?

You feel them.

Wrong! You kiss them.

We didn't kiss Gladys Potter.

We weren't in love with Gladys Potter.

If you're in love with a girl,

you're supposed to kiss her first.

- Ain't that right, Hermie?

- It's polite.

It's not required.

It's required, you ninny!

It is not!

How do you know?

Because I found a book.

If my mother knew I took that book...

It doesn't belong to me.

It doesn't belong to my mother.

It belongs to the house.

If you guys get your fingerprints

on those pages, it's your funeral.

My mother's gonna miss that book!

It's the biggest on the shelf.

Ten books fell when I pulled it out.

- Hold it!

- Will you hurry up?

Kill me. I don't read as fast as you do.

Okay, turn.

Jesus! Do you believe all this stuff?.

It's a medical journal.

Why should they lie?

How do they take pictures like that?

- They must have special cameras.

- What drugstores would develop them?

If we took film like that to Sanders,

we'd be put in a reform school.

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