“It don’t do to think about things like that too much. If she was here now I’d probably be crazy agin in about five minutes. Ain’t that ridiculous?”
A half-hour later, when they had gathered up the gear and were on the way to town, he answered his own question.
“It ain’t really,” he said “Being crazy about a woman like her’s always the right thing to do. Being a decrepit old bag of bones is what’s ridiculous.”
—Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, Liveright, 2018 (1966)
She tried to lie very still, but Sonny’s movement went on, and the sound was constant. Finally she began to cry, and when the tears dripped down her cheeks and wet Sonny’s neck he realized that something was wrong after all.
—Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, Liveright, 2018 (1966)
But there was something fresh about Mrs. Popper’s mouth, as if what was left of the softness and beauty she was said to have had as a girl still lingered there. Sonny was mute. Suddenly he wanted Mrs. Popper and he didn’t have the slightest idea what to do about it.
—Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, Liveright, 2018 (1966)
No one answered the doorbell, so they went on in. Lights were on and there was girls’ coats and boys’ coats and glasses and liquor bottles all around, but no people. A Dave Brubeck album was lying next to the phonograph.
—Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, Liveright, 2018 (1966)
“Here I am wanting to tell you I’m sorry again,” she said, smiling a little. “I know I’ve given you a bad afternoon. For ten seconds there I was ready to try and seduce you, I don’t know what it means myself. I”ve never seduced anyone and I’ve never been seduced, but I”ve always liked the word. I thought if I was ever going to find out what it meant it had better be now.”
—Larry McMurtry, The Last Picture Show, Liveright, 2018 (1966)