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.

I guess they develop them themselves.

Yeah, I guess that's what they do.

- Let me look.

- Go away. You'll foam at the mouth.

- It's my book.

- Come on, let him look.

There, they're doing it!

- I don't believe it.

- You'd better believe it.

One day your turn will come

and you'd better know what to do.

I don't believe it.

My mother and father never did that!

- Never.

- Why not?

Because it's stupid!

I hate to break the news,

but that's the way it's done.

You better stop pushing me around.

It could be dangerous. It could.

Benjie, if you just look at the pictures,

it does look dumb.

But if two people are in love,

it's supposed to be very pleasant.

How do you know? You've never done it!

Well, it's right here in the book.

In black and white and color.

That's why people kiss first.

It gives them a chance to know each other.

Once they get to know each other,

they fall in love, then they make love.

Foreplay! It's called foreplay.

Everyone takes off their clothes

and they play foreplay.

Then he does this and she does this,

and he does this.

And before you know it, they're screwing!

Now what could be simpler than that?

Now, listen, before I saw these pictures,

I didn't think it was possible either.

But these are pictures, Benjie, pictures!

These aren't drawings.

I've seen those drawings.

These are pictures!

In an emergency, it could mount...

...350 caliber jobs.

Probably handle about...

...a dozen or so depth charges.

It'd sink if it hit a fish.

Stripped down it could do 30 or 40 knots.

Thirty or 40 knots?

Thirty or 40 knots straight down.

Yeah, yeah.

Two, three, four, five...

One, two, three, four, five...

Sixty-nine, seventy.

I wish somebody

would invade this dopey island.

I'm going mad!

Hey, Oscy, it's that lady again.

Hermie, you're not gonna go into

another deathlike trance again, are you?

I swear, Hermie,

I don't know what's come over you.

That's a very old person over there.

I don't see the attraction.

Maybe it's her mind.

Maybe their minds meet and say, ''Hello. ''

Why don't you go

and say hello to her mind, Hermie?

Go on, go say hello.

Cut it out.

Come on. If she's the love of your life,

go say hello to her.

Come on, we want to see you go say hello.

Maybe you're some kind of a hotshot lover

we don't know about.

- Cut it out!

- Say hello.

- Knock it off!

- Come on!

Come on. Go say hello to her, Hermie.

- Go say hello to her.

- Yeah, go say hello.

Come on, we want to see you go say hello.

Hey, lady in the pink suit!

It's Hermie the rape artist!

It's Jack the Ripper!

It's Herman the German, Nazi spy!

- It's a sex fiend!

- It's Hermie the rape artist!

Goddamn!

Oscy, I'll...

Hey, come on, Herm.

Come on.

We were only kidding.

Hermie, it was a joke!

Look out, Oscy! Look out!

Knock it off, Hermie!

Knock it off! Cut it out!

Now I'm gonna let you go, okay?

Okay, now, I'll let you go.

Goddamn it, Hermie! You're really crazy!

You're really crazy, you know that? Crazy!

Jesus.

It's enough, goddamn it! Enough!

Son of a b*tch!

Jesus!

Jesus, Oscy, you killed him.

Oh, sh*t!

Hey, leave him alone, Benjie.

Leave him alone!

The son of a b*tch threw sand in my face.

- Goddamn it, I mean...

- We'll see you later, Hermie, okay?

Bastards!

- Hermie, where're you going?

- The Planet Mongo.

- It's not even 8:00!

- I can't do anything about that!

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