WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.680 --> 00:00:05.440 Chapter two of the Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald. About halfway between 2 00:00:05.480 --> 00:00:09.320 West Egg and New York, the motor road hastily joins the railroad and runs 3 00:00:09.320 --> 00:00:12.400 beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from 4 00:00:12.400 --> 00:00:16.519 a certain desolate area of land. This is a valley of ashes, a 5 00:00:16.519 --> 00:00:22.320 fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and hills, and grotesque gardens, 6 00:00:22.839 --> 00:00:27.239 where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys in rising smoke, and 7 00:00:27.760 --> 00:00:32.719 finally, with a transcendent effort of ash, gray men who move dimly and 8 00:00:32.840 --> 00:00:38.640 already crumbling through the powdery air. Occasionally, a line of gray cars crawls 9 00:00:38.679 --> 00:00:43.200 along an invisible track, gives out a ghastly creek, and comes to rest. 10 00:00:43.520 --> 00:00:48.119 And immediately the ash gray men swarm up with leaden spades and stir up 11 00:00:48.119 --> 00:00:54.200 an impenetrable cloud, which screens their obscure operations from your sight. But above 12 00:00:54.200 --> 00:00:58.240 the gray land and the spasms of bleak dust which drift endlessly over it, 13 00:00:58.640 --> 00:01:02.479 you perceive, after a moment the eyes of doctor t. J Eckelberg. 14 00:01:03.359 --> 00:01:07.680 The eyes of doctor T. J Eckelberg are blue and gigantic. Their retinas 15 00:01:07.680 --> 00:01:11.359 are one yard high. They look out of no face, but instead from 16 00:01:11.359 --> 00:01:17.879 a pair of enormous yellow spectacles which pass over a non existent nose. Evidently 17 00:01:17.959 --> 00:01:22.120 some wild wag of an oculist set them there to fatten his practice in the 18 00:01:22.159 --> 00:01:26.680 Borough of Queens, and then sank down himself into eternal blindness, or forgot 19 00:01:26.680 --> 00:01:32.439 them and moved away. But his eyes dimmed a little by many pointless days 20 00:01:32.799 --> 00:01:38.560 under sun and rain, brooded on over the solemn dumping ground. The valley 21 00:01:38.560 --> 00:01:42.840 of Ashes is bounded on one side by a small foul river, and when 22 00:01:42.840 --> 00:01:47.120 the drawbridge is up to let barges through, the passengers on the waiting train 23 00:01:47.200 --> 00:01:51.280 can stare at the dismal scene for as long as half an hour. There 24 00:01:51.400 --> 00:01:53.400 is always a halt there of at least a minute. And it was because 25 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:59.040 of this that I first met Tom Buchanan's mistress. The fact that he had 26 00:01:59.079 --> 00:02:04.319 one was insisted a pond wherever he was known. His acquaintances resented the fact 27 00:02:04.359 --> 00:02:07.120 that he turned up in popular cafes with her, and, leaving her at 28 00:02:07.120 --> 00:02:13.599 a table, sauntered about chatting with whomsoever he knew. Though I was curious 29 00:02:13.639 --> 00:02:16.560 to see her, I had no desire to meet her, but I did. 30 00:02:17.400 --> 00:02:21.199 I went up to New York with Tom on the train one afternoon, 31 00:02:21.479 --> 00:02:24.000 and when we stopped by the ash heaps, he jumped to his feet and, 32 00:02:24.280 --> 00:02:30.039 taking hold of my elbow, literally forced me from the car. We're 33 00:02:30.039 --> 00:02:34.280 getting off. He insisted, I want you to meet my girl. I 34 00:02:34.319 --> 00:02:38.240 think he'd tanked up a good deal at Luncheon, and his determination to have 35 00:02:38.360 --> 00:02:44.439 my company bordered on violence. The supercilious assumption was that on Sunday afternoon, 36 00:02:44.479 --> 00:02:47.840 I had nothing better to do. I followed him over a low, whitewashed 37 00:02:47.919 --> 00:02:53.039 railroad fence, and we walked back a hundred yards along the road under Doctor 38 00:02:53.039 --> 00:02:58.120 Eckelbird's persistent stare. The only building in sight was a small block of yellow 39 00:02:58.120 --> 00:03:01.319 brick sitting on the large edge the waste land, a sort of compact main 40 00:03:01.400 --> 00:03:07.039 street ministering to it and contiguous to absolutely nothing. One of the three shops 41 00:03:07.039 --> 00:03:10.759 it contained was for rent, and another was an all night restaurant, approached 42 00:03:10.800 --> 00:03:16.159 by a trail of ashes. The third was a garage repairs George B. 43 00:03:16.439 --> 00:03:23.800 Wilson, cars bought and sold. I followed Tom inside. The interior was 44 00:03:23.960 --> 00:03:28.400 unprosperous and bare. The only car visible was the dust covered wreck of a 45 00:03:28.479 --> 00:03:31.560 ford, which crouched in a dim corner. It had occurred to me that 46 00:03:31.680 --> 00:03:37.560 this shadow of a garage must be a blind and that sumptuous and romantic apartments 47 00:03:37.560 --> 00:03:40.960 were concealed overhead. When the proprietor himself appeared in the door of an office, 48 00:03:42.080 --> 00:03:45.840 wiping his hands on a piece of waist. He was a blonde, 49 00:03:45.919 --> 00:03:50.400 spiritless man, anemic and faintly handsome. When he saw us, a damp 50 00:03:50.479 --> 00:03:54.039 gleam of hope sprang into his light blue eyes. Hello, Wilson, old 51 00:03:54.080 --> 00:03:59.680 man, said Tom, slapping him jovially on the shoulder. Howe's business, 52 00:04:00.439 --> 00:04:04.000 I can't complain, answered Wilson, unconvincingly. When ain't you going to sell 53 00:04:04.039 --> 00:04:09.360 me that car next week? I've got my man working on it now. 54 00:04:10.080 --> 00:04:14.560 Work's pretty slow, don't he. No, he doesn't, said Tom coldly. 55 00:04:14.919 --> 00:04:16.839 And if you feel that way about it, maybe I'd better sell it 56 00:04:16.959 --> 00:04:23.240 somewhere else. After all, I don't mean that, explained Wilson quickly. 57 00:04:23.600 --> 00:04:28.560 I just meant. His voice faded off, and Tom glanced impatiently around the 58 00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.480 garage. Then I heard footsteps on the stairs, and in a moment, 59 00:04:31.639 --> 00:04:35.240 the thickish figure of a woman blocked out the light from the office door. 60 00:04:36.000 --> 00:04:41.199 She was in the middle thirties and faintly stout, but she carried her flesh 61 00:04:41.319 --> 00:04:46.519 sensuously as some women can. Her face above a spotted dress of dark blue 62 00:04:46.639 --> 00:04:50.120 crept The sheen contained no facet or gleam of beauty, but there was an 63 00:04:50.120 --> 00:04:56.319 immediately perceptible vitality about her, as if the nerves of her body were continually 64 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:00.079 smoldering. She smiled slowly, and, walking through her husband as if he 65 00:05:00.120 --> 00:05:04.040 were a ghost, shook hands with Tom, looking him flush in the eye. 66 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:09.160 Then she wet her lips, and without turning around, spoke to her 67 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:13.800 husband in a soft, coarse voice. Get some chairs, Why don't you 68 00:05:14.040 --> 00:05:17.800 so somebody can sit down. Oh sure, agreed Wilson hurriedly, and went 69 00:05:17.839 --> 00:05:21.560 toward the little office, mingling immediately with the cement color of the walls. 70 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:26.720 A white ashen dust veiled his dark suit and his pale hair, as it 71 00:05:26.879 --> 00:05:30.480 veiled everything in the vicinity, except his wife, who moved close to Tom. 72 00:05:31.160 --> 00:05:34.759 I want to see you, said Tom intently. Get on the next 73 00:05:34.800 --> 00:05:40.120 train, all right, I'll meet you by the news stand on the lower 74 00:05:40.199 --> 00:05:44.560 level. She nodded and moved away from him, just as George Wilson emerged 75 00:05:44.600 --> 00:05:47.720 with two chairs from his office door. We waited for her down the road 76 00:05:47.759 --> 00:05:50.759 and out of sight. It was a few days before the fourth of July, 77 00:05:50.879 --> 00:05:55.759 and a gray, scrawny Italian child was setting torpedoes in a row along 78 00:05:55.839 --> 00:06:00.399 the railroad track. Terrible place, isn't it, said Tom, changing a 79 00:06:00.439 --> 00:06:05.399 frown with doctor Eckelberg. Awful mit does her good to get away? Doesn't 80 00:06:05.399 --> 00:06:10.839 her husband object? Wilson, he thinks she goes to see her sister in 81 00:06:10.879 --> 00:06:15.360 New York. He's so dumb he doesn't know he's alive. So Tom Buchanan 82 00:06:15.399 --> 00:06:19.040 and his girl and I went up together to New York, or not quite 83 00:06:19.040 --> 00:06:25.519 together for missus. Wilson sat discreetly in another car. Tom deferred that much 84 00:06:25.560 --> 00:06:29.959 to the sensibilities of those East Eggers who might be on the train. She 85 00:06:30.040 --> 00:06:33.360 had changed her dress to a brown figured muslin, which stretched tight over her 86 00:06:33.439 --> 00:06:39.120 rather wide hips as Tom helped her to the platform In New York. At 87 00:06:39.160 --> 00:06:44.040 the newsstand, she bought a copy of Town Tattle and a moving picture magazine, 88 00:06:44.360 --> 00:06:47.160 and in the station drug soar some cold cream and a small flask of 89 00:06:47.279 --> 00:06:53.480 perfume. Upstairs in the solemn, echoing drive. She let four taxi cabs 90 00:06:53.600 --> 00:06:58.240 drive away before she selected a new one, lavender colored with gray upholstery, 91 00:06:58.600 --> 00:07:01.480 And in this we slid out from the mass of the station into the glowing 92 00:07:01.560 --> 00:07:06.639 sunshine. But immediately she turned sharply from the window and, leaning forward, 93 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:11.800 tapped on the front glass. I want to get one of those dogs, 94 00:07:11.839 --> 00:07:15.040 she said earnestly. I want to get one for the apartment. They're nice 95 00:07:15.079 --> 00:07:19.480 to have a dog. So we backed up to a gray old man who 96 00:07:19.519 --> 00:07:25.279 bore an absurd resemblance to John D. Rockefeller. In a basket swung from 97 00:07:25.279 --> 00:07:30.920 his neck cowered a dozen very recent puppies of an indeterminate breed. What kind 98 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:34.079 are they, asked missus Wilson eagerly, as he came to the taxi window. 99 00:07:34.920 --> 00:07:39.399 All kinds? What kind do you want, lady? I'd like to 100 00:07:39.439 --> 00:07:42.839 get one of those police dogs. I don't suppose you got that kind. 101 00:07:43.519 --> 00:07:46.199 The man peered doubtfully into the basket, plunged in his hand, and drew 102 00:07:46.199 --> 00:07:50.839 one up, wriggling by the back of the neck. That's no police dog, 103 00:07:51.040 --> 00:07:56.560 said Tom. No, it's not exactly a police dog, said the 104 00:07:56.600 --> 00:08:01.600 man, with disappointment in his voice. It's more of an Airdale. He 105 00:08:01.720 --> 00:08:05.639 passed his hand over the brown wash rag of a back. Look at that 106 00:08:05.759 --> 00:08:09.600 coat, some coat. That's a dog that'll never bother you with catching cold. 107 00:08:11.319 --> 00:08:16.399 I think it's cute, said Missus Wilson enthusiastically. How much is it 108 00:08:16.319 --> 00:08:22.160 that dog? He looked at it, admiring. That dog will cost you 109 00:08:22.439 --> 00:08:28.120 ten dollars the airdale. Undoubtedly there was an airdale concerned in it somewhere, 110 00:08:28.600 --> 00:08:33.879 though its feet were startlingly. White changed hands and settled down into Missus Wilson's 111 00:08:33.960 --> 00:08:37.519 lap, where she fondled the weatherproof coat with rapture. Is it a boy 112 00:08:37.799 --> 00:08:43.919 or a girl? She asked delicately. That dog, that dog's a boy. 113 00:08:45.080 --> 00:08:48.360 It's a bitch, said Tom derisively. Here's your money, go and 114 00:08:48.440 --> 00:08:52.679 buy ten more dogs with it. We drove over to Fifth Avenue, warm 115 00:08:52.720 --> 00:08:58.679 and soft, almost pastoral on the summer Sunday afternoon. I wouldn't have been 116 00:08:58.720 --> 00:09:03.120 surprised to see a great flock of white sheep turned the corner. Hold on, 117 00:09:03.240 --> 00:09:05.840 I said, I have to leave you here. No, you don't, 118 00:09:07.159 --> 00:09:09.759 interposed Tom quickly. Myrtle will be hurt if you don't come up to 119 00:09:09.759 --> 00:09:15.759 the apartment. Won't you myrtle, Come on, she urged, I'll telephone 120 00:09:15.799 --> 00:09:20.039 my sister Catherine. She's said to be very beautiful by people who ought to 121 00:09:20.080 --> 00:09:24.320 know. Well, I'd like to. But we went on, cutting back 122 00:09:24.360 --> 00:09:28.240 again over the park toward the West hundreds. At one hundred and fifty eighth 123 00:09:28.279 --> 00:09:33.159 Street, the cab stopped at one slice and a long white cake of apartment 124 00:09:33.200 --> 00:09:37.840 houses, throwing a regal homecoming glance around the neighborhood. Missus Wilson gathered up 125 00:09:37.840 --> 00:09:43.440 her dog and her other purchases and went haughtily in. I'm going to have 126 00:09:43.519 --> 00:09:46.080 the mc keys come up, she announced, as we rose in the elevator. 127 00:09:46.720 --> 00:09:52.360 And of course I've got to call up my sister too. The apartment 128 00:09:52.399 --> 00:09:54.919 was on the top floor, a small living room, a small dining room, 129 00:09:56.000 --> 00:09:58.600 a small bedroom, and a bath. The living room was crowded to 130 00:09:58.639 --> 00:10:03.120 the door with a set of tapestried furniture entirely too large for it, so 131 00:10:03.159 --> 00:10:07.639 that to move about was to stumble continually over scenes of ladies swinging in the 132 00:10:07.720 --> 00:10:13.600 gardens of Versailles. The only picture was an over enlarged photograph, apparently a 133 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:18.639 hen sitting on a blurred rock, looked at from a distance. However, 134 00:10:18.960 --> 00:10:22.080 the hen resolved itself into a bonnet, and the countenance of a stout old 135 00:10:22.120 --> 00:10:28.000 lady beamed down into the room. Several old copies of Town Tattle lay on 136 00:10:28.000 --> 00:10:31.200 the table, together with a copy of Simon called Peter, and some of 137 00:10:31.240 --> 00:10:37.759 the small scandal magazines of Broadway. Missus Wilson was first concerned with the dog. 138 00:10:37.240 --> 00:10:41.039 A reluctant elevator boy went for a boxfull of straw and some milk, 139 00:10:41.279 --> 00:10:45.759 to which he added, on his own initiative, a tin of large hard 140 00:10:45.840 --> 00:10:50.240 dog biscuits, one of which decomposed apathetically in the saucer of milk all afternoon. 141 00:10:50.840 --> 00:10:54.600 Meanwhile, Tom brought out a bottle of whiskey from a locked bureau door. 142 00:10:56.639 --> 00:11:00.200 I have been drunk just twice in my life, and the second time 143 00:11:00.320 --> 00:11:03.840 was that afternoon. So everything that happened has a dim, hazy cast over 144 00:11:03.879 --> 00:11:09.000 it, Although until after eight o'clock the apartment was full of cheerful Son sitting 145 00:11:09.000 --> 00:11:13.320 on Tom's lap. Missus Wilson called up several people on the telephone. Then 146 00:11:13.360 --> 00:11:16.279 there were no cigarettes, and I went out to buy some at the drug 147 00:11:16.320 --> 00:11:20.000 store on the corner. When I came back, they had both disappeared, 148 00:11:20.440 --> 00:11:24.320 so I sat down discreetly in the living room and read a chapter of Simon 149 00:11:24.399 --> 00:11:30.519 called Peter. Either it was terrible stuff or the whiskey distorted things because it 150 00:11:30.559 --> 00:11:35.440 didn't make any sense to me, Just as Tom and Myrtle after the first 151 00:11:35.519 --> 00:11:39.840 drink, Missus Wilson and I called each other by our first names reappeared, 152 00:11:39.200 --> 00:11:45.360 company commenced to arrive at the apartment door. The sister Katherine was a slender, 153 00:11:45.399 --> 00:11:48.279 worldly girl of about thirty, with a solid, sticky bob of red 154 00:11:48.320 --> 00:11:54.360 hair and a complexion powdered milky white. Her eyebrows had been plucked and then 155 00:11:54.519 --> 00:11:58.759 drawn on again at a more rakish angle, but the efforts of nature toward 156 00:11:58.799 --> 00:12:01.679 the restoration of the old the linement gave a blurred air to her face. 157 00:12:03.559 --> 00:12:09.039 When she moved about, there was an incessant clicking as innumerable pottery bracelets jingled 158 00:12:09.120 --> 00:12:13.399 up and down upon her arms. She came in with such a proprietary haste 159 00:12:13.559 --> 00:12:18.240 and looked around so possessively at the furniture that I wondered if she lived here. 160 00:12:18.799 --> 00:12:22.799 But when I asked her, she laughed immoderately, repeated my question aloud, 161 00:12:22.039 --> 00:12:26.440 and told me she lived with her girlfriend at a hotel. Mister McKee 162 00:12:26.480 --> 00:12:31.440 was a pale, feminine man from the flat below. He had just shaved, 163 00:12:31.519 --> 00:12:33.919 for there was a white spot of lather on his cheekbone, and he 164 00:12:33.960 --> 00:12:39.320 was most respectful of his greeting to everyone in the room. He informed me 165 00:12:39.399 --> 00:12:43.080 that he was in the artistic game, and I gathered later that he was 166 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.840 a photographer and had made the dim enlargement of missus Wilson's mother, which hovered 167 00:12:46.840 --> 00:12:52.960 like an ectoplasm on the wall. His wife was shrill, languid, handsome 168 00:12:52.200 --> 00:12:56.480 and horrible. She told me with pride that her husband had photographed her one 169 00:12:56.559 --> 00:13:01.200 hundred and twenty seven times since they had been married. Missus Wilson had changed 170 00:13:01.200 --> 00:13:05.840 her costume some time before, and was now attired in an elaborate afternoon dress 171 00:13:05.840 --> 00:13:11.320 of cream colored chiffon, which gave out a continual rustle as she swept about 172 00:13:11.320 --> 00:13:16.080 the room. With the influence of the dress, her personality had also undergone 173 00:13:16.080 --> 00:13:20.559 a change. The intense vitality that had been so remarkable in the garage was 174 00:13:20.600 --> 00:13:26.279 converted into impressive hauteur. Her laughter, her gestures, her assertions became more 175 00:13:26.360 --> 00:13:31.320 violently affected moment by moment, and as she expanded, the room grew smaller 176 00:13:31.360 --> 00:13:35.639 around her, until she seemed to be revolving on a noisy, creaking pivot 177 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:39.279 through the smoky air. My dear, she told her sister in a high 178 00:13:39.279 --> 00:13:45.080 mincing shout. Most of these fellows will cheat you every time. All they 179 00:13:45.120 --> 00:13:48.559 think of is money. I had a woman up here last week to look 180 00:13:48.559 --> 00:13:50.320 at my feet, and when she gave me the bill, you'd have thought 181 00:13:50.320 --> 00:13:54.960 she had my appendicitis out. What was the name of the woman, asked 182 00:13:56.000 --> 00:14:01.240 missus mc Keeie, Missus Eberhart. She goes around looking at people's feet in 183 00:14:01.279 --> 00:14:05.159 their own homes. I like your dress, remarked missus McKee. I think 184 00:14:05.159 --> 00:14:11.720 it's adorable. Missus Wilson rejected the compliment by raising her eyebrow in disdain. 185 00:14:11.720 --> 00:14:16.159 It's just a crazy old thing, she said. I just slip it on 186 00:14:16.320 --> 00:14:20.399 sometimes when I don't care what I look like. But it looks wonderful on 187 00:14:20.480 --> 00:14:24.679 you, if you know what I mean, pursued missus McKee. If Chester 188 00:14:24.759 --> 00:14:26.399 can only get you in that pose, I think he can make something of 189 00:14:26.399 --> 00:14:31.600 it. We all looked in silence at missus Wilson, who removed a strand 190 00:14:31.600 --> 00:14:35.559 of hair from over her eyes and looked back at us with a brilliant smile. 191 00:14:35.200 --> 00:14:39.440 Mister McKee regarded her intently with his head on one side, and then 192 00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:45.759 moved his hand back and forth slowly in front of his face. I should 193 00:14:45.879 --> 00:14:48.639 change the light, he said. After a moment, I'd like to bring 194 00:14:48.639 --> 00:14:52.559 out the modeling of the features, and I'd try to get hold of all 195 00:14:52.600 --> 00:14:58.399 that back hair. I wouldn't think of changing the light, cried missus McKee. 196 00:14:58.720 --> 00:15:01.600 I think it's her, husband said sh and we all looked at the 197 00:15:01.639 --> 00:15:07.799 subject again, whereupon Tom Buchanan yawned audibly and got to his feet. You 198 00:15:07.919 --> 00:15:11.559 mc keyes have something to drink, he said, get some more ice and 199 00:15:11.679 --> 00:15:16.080 mineral water, Myrtle, before everybody goes to sleep. I told that boy 200 00:15:16.120 --> 00:15:20.320 about the ice. Myrtle raised her eyebrows in despair at the shiftlessness of the 201 00:15:20.440 --> 00:15:24.320 lower orders. These people. You have to keep after them all the time. 202 00:15:26.039 --> 00:15:30.120 She looked at me and laughed pointlessly. Then she flounced over to the 203 00:15:30.200 --> 00:15:33.440 dog, kissed it with ecstasy, and swept into the kitchen, implying that 204 00:15:33.519 --> 00:15:37.960 a dozen chefs awaited her orders there. I've done some nice things out on 205 00:15:39.039 --> 00:15:43.759 Long Island, asserted mister McKee. Tom looked at him blankly. Two of 206 00:15:43.759 --> 00:15:48.200 them we have framed downstairs, to what, demanded Tom. Two studies. 207 00:15:48.600 --> 00:15:52.639 One of them I call montalk Point the gulls, and the other I call 208 00:15:52.840 --> 00:15:58.120 montalk Point the sea. The sister Catherine sat down beside me on the couch. 209 00:16:00.360 --> 00:16:03.320 Do you live on Long Island too, she inquired? I live at 210 00:16:03.360 --> 00:16:07.320 West Egg Really, I was down there at a party about a month ago 211 00:16:07.440 --> 00:16:11.440 and a man named Gatsby's. Do you know him? I lived next door 212 00:16:11.440 --> 00:16:15.120 to him. Well, they say he's a nephew or a cousin of Kaiser 213 00:16:15.159 --> 00:16:21.200 Wilhelms. That's where all his money comes from. Really, she nodded. 214 00:16:21.919 --> 00:16:25.320 I'm scared of him. I'd hate to have him get anything on me. 215 00:16:26.159 --> 00:16:30.639 This absorbing information about my neighbor was interrupted by missus mc keyes pointing suddenly at 216 00:16:30.720 --> 00:16:36.679 Katherine Chester. I think you could do something with her, she broke out, 217 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:40.799 But mister mc keee only nodded in a bored way and turned his attention 218 00:16:40.840 --> 00:16:44.919 to Tom. I like to do more work on Long Island if I could 219 00:16:44.960 --> 00:16:48.600 get the entry. All I ask is that they should give me a start, 220 00:16:48.600 --> 00:16:52.720 ask myrtle, said Tom, breaking into a short shout of laughter as 221 00:16:53.039 --> 00:16:57.000 missus Wilson entered with a tray. She'll give you a letter of introduction, 222 00:16:57.200 --> 00:17:03.720 won't you, Myrtle do what she asked, startled, You'll give Mickey a 223 00:17:03.759 --> 00:17:07.200 letter of introduction to your husband so he can do some studies on him. 224 00:17:07.799 --> 00:17:11.839 His lips moved silently for a moment as he invented George B. Wilson at 225 00:17:11.839 --> 00:17:18.079 the gasolene pump or something like that. Catherine leaned close to me and whispered 226 00:17:18.079 --> 00:17:22.119 in my ear. Neither of them can stand the person they're married to, 227 00:17:22.039 --> 00:17:27.799 can't They can't stand them. She looked at Myrtle and then at Tom. 228 00:17:29.480 --> 00:17:33.559 What I say is why go on living with them if they can't stand them? 229 00:17:33.640 --> 00:17:36.480 If I was them, i'd get a divorce and get married to each 230 00:17:36.480 --> 00:17:41.759 other right away. Doesn't she like Wilson either. The answer to this was 231 00:17:41.839 --> 00:17:45.000 unexpected. It came from Myrtle, who had overheard the question, and it 232 00:17:45.039 --> 00:17:52.000 was violent and obscene. You see, cried Catherine triumphantly. She lowered her 233 00:17:52.039 --> 00:17:56.000 voice again. It's really his wife that keeps them apart. She's a Catholic 234 00:17:56.039 --> 00:18:00.799 and they don't believe in divorce. He was not a Catholic. And I 235 00:18:00.880 --> 00:18:04.839 was a little shocked at the elaborateness of the lie. When they do get 236 00:18:04.920 --> 00:18:10.000 married, continued Catherine, they're going west to live for a while until it 237 00:18:10.000 --> 00:18:14.799 blows over. It'd be more discreet to go to Europe. Oh you like 238 00:18:14.920 --> 00:18:19.200 Europe, she exclaimed surprisingly. I just got back from Monte Carlo. Really, 239 00:18:19.759 --> 00:18:23.559 just last year I went over there with another girl. Stay long, 240 00:18:25.359 --> 00:18:27.799 No, we just went to Monte Carlo and back. We went by way 241 00:18:27.799 --> 00:18:32.359 of Marseilles. We had over twelve hundred dollars whom he started, but we 242 00:18:32.480 --> 00:18:36.200 got jipped out of it all in two days in the private rooms. We 243 00:18:36.279 --> 00:18:38.519 had an awful time getting back. I can tell you, god, how 244 00:18:38.559 --> 00:18:42.680 I hated that town. The late afternoon sky bloomed in the window for a 245 00:18:42.720 --> 00:18:47.599 moment, like the blue honey of the Mediterranean. Then the shrill voice of 246 00:18:47.640 --> 00:18:52.079 missus McKee called me back into the room. I almost made a mistake, 247 00:18:52.160 --> 00:18:56.680 too, she declared vigorously. I almost married a little Kaike who'd been after 248 00:18:56.720 --> 00:19:00.519 me for years. I knew he was below me. Everybody up saying to 249 00:19:00.559 --> 00:19:03.279 me, Lucille, that man's way below you. But if I hadn't meant 250 00:19:03.359 --> 00:19:08.039 chester, he'd have got me for sure, yes, but listen, said 251 00:19:08.079 --> 00:19:12.359 Myrtle Wilson, nodding her head up and down. At least you didn't marry 252 00:19:12.440 --> 00:19:18.880 him. I know I didn't. Well, I married him, said Myrtle 253 00:19:18.920 --> 00:19:23.119 ambiguously. And that's a difference between your case and mine. Why did you, 254 00:19:23.200 --> 00:19:29.960 Myrtle demanded Catherine, Nobody forced you to. Myrtle considered, I married 255 00:19:30.039 --> 00:19:33.920 him because I thought he was a gentleman, she said. Finally, I 256 00:19:33.000 --> 00:19:37.279 thought he knew something about breeding. But he wasn't fit to lick my shoe. 257 00:19:38.160 --> 00:19:42.720 You were crazy about him for a while, said Catherine. Crazy about 258 00:19:42.759 --> 00:19:48.319 him, cried Myrtle incredulously, who said I was crazy about him. I 259 00:19:48.440 --> 00:19:52.079 never was any more crazy about him than I was about that man there, 260 00:19:52.960 --> 00:19:56.680 She pointed suddenly at me, and everyone looked at me accusingly. I tried 261 00:19:56.720 --> 00:20:02.880 to show by my expression that I expected no affection. The only crazy I 262 00:20:03.039 --> 00:20:06.559 was was when I married him. I knew right away I made a mistake. 263 00:20:06.960 --> 00:20:10.680 He borrowed somebody's best suit to get married in and never told me about 264 00:20:10.680 --> 00:20:12.559 it. And the man came after it one day when he was out, 265 00:20:14.079 --> 00:20:17.680 Oh is that your suit? I said, this is the first I ever 266 00:20:17.720 --> 00:20:19.240 heard about it. But I gave it to him, and then I lay 267 00:20:19.279 --> 00:20:23.799 down and cried to beat the band all afternoon. She really ought to get 268 00:20:23.839 --> 00:20:29.079 away from him, resumed Catherine to me. They've been living over that garage 269 00:20:29.119 --> 00:20:33.559 for eleven years, and Tom's the first sweetie she ever had. The bottle 270 00:20:33.559 --> 00:20:37.640 of whiskey. A second one was now in constant demand by all present, 271 00:20:37.119 --> 00:20:42.640 excepting Catherine, who felt just as good on nothing at all. Tom rang 272 00:20:42.720 --> 00:20:48.119 for the janitor and sent him for some celebrated sandwiches, which were a complete 273 00:20:48.119 --> 00:20:52.559 supper in themselves. I wanted to get out and walk eastward toward the park 274 00:20:52.640 --> 00:20:56.000 through the soft twilight, but each time I tried to go, I became 275 00:20:56.160 --> 00:21:00.839 entangled in some wild, strident argument, which pulled me back, as if 276 00:21:00.039 --> 00:21:04.599 with ropes, into my chair. Yet high over the city, our line 277 00:21:04.599 --> 00:21:10.640 of yellow windows must have contributed their share of human secrecy to the casual watcher 278 00:21:10.680 --> 00:21:14.400 in the darkening streets, and I saw him, too, looking up and 279 00:21:14.440 --> 00:21:21.000 wondering. I was within and without, simultaneously enchanted and repelled by the inexhaustible 280 00:21:21.160 --> 00:21:26.119 variety of life. Myrtle pulled her chair close to mine, and suddenly her 281 00:21:26.119 --> 00:21:29.599 warm breath poured over me. The story of her first meeting with Tom. 282 00:21:30.359 --> 00:21:33.920 It was on the two little seats facing each other that are always the last 283 00:21:33.960 --> 00:21:37.480 ones left on the train. I was going up to New York to see 284 00:21:37.519 --> 00:21:41.200 my sister and spend the night. He had on a dress suit in patent 285 00:21:41.319 --> 00:21:45.279 leather shoes, and I couldn't keep my eyes off him, But every time 286 00:21:45.279 --> 00:21:48.319 he looked in me, I had to pretend to be looking at the advertisement 287 00:21:48.400 --> 00:21:52.000 over his head. When we came into the station, he was next to 288 00:21:52.039 --> 00:21:56.200 me and his white shirt front pressed against my arm, and so I told 289 00:21:56.240 --> 00:22:00.319 him I'd have to call a policeman, but he knew I lied. I 290 00:22:00.400 --> 00:22:03.799 was so excited that when I got into the taxi with him, I didn't 291 00:22:03.799 --> 00:22:07.400 hardly know I wasn't getting into a subway train. All I kept thinking about, 292 00:22:07.480 --> 00:22:11.960 over and over was you can't live forever. You can't live forever. 293 00:22:12.799 --> 00:22:17.759 She turned to missus mc keeye, and the room rang full of her artificial 294 00:22:17.880 --> 00:22:22.839 laughter. My dear, she cried, I'm going to give you this dress 295 00:22:22.839 --> 00:22:25.599 as soon as I'm through with it. I've got to get another one. 296 00:22:25.640 --> 00:22:27.599 Tomorrow. I'm going to make a list of all the things I've got to 297 00:22:27.640 --> 00:22:32.559 get. A'm massage, and a wave, and a collar for the dog, 298 00:22:33.039 --> 00:22:34.960 and one of those cute little ash trays where you touch a spring, 299 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:38.640 and a wreath with a black silk bow for mother's grave. That all last 300 00:22:38.680 --> 00:22:42.599 all summer. I've got a write down a list, so i won't forget 301 00:22:42.640 --> 00:22:48.160 all the things I got to do. It was nine o'clock. Almost immediately 302 00:22:48.200 --> 00:22:52.000 afterward. I looked at my watch and found it was ten. Mister mc 303 00:22:52.079 --> 00:22:55.200 keee was asleep on the chair, with his fists clenched in his lap, 304 00:22:55.480 --> 00:23:00.200 like a photograph of a man in action. Taking out my handkerchief. Aped 305 00:23:00.240 --> 00:23:03.200 from his cheek the spot of dried lather that had worried me all the afternoon. 306 00:23:03.920 --> 00:23:07.119 The little dog was sitting on the table, looking with blind eyes through 307 00:23:07.160 --> 00:23:12.680 the smoke, and from time to time groaning faintly. People disappeared, reappeared, 308 00:23:14.039 --> 00:23:17.559 made plans to go somewhere, and then lost each other, searched for 309 00:23:17.599 --> 00:23:22.440 each other, found each other a few feet away. Sometime toward midnight, 310 00:23:22.519 --> 00:23:27.039 Tom Buchanan and Missus Wilson stood face to face, discussing in impassioned voices whether 311 00:23:27.079 --> 00:23:33.559 Missus Wilson had any right to mention Daisy's name. Daisy Daisy, Daisy, 312 00:23:33.759 --> 00:23:37.599 shouted missus Wilson. I'll say it whenever I want to. Daisy Day. 313 00:23:37.759 --> 00:23:41.759 Making a short, deft movement, Tom Buchanan broke her nose with his open 314 00:23:41.839 --> 00:23:47.559 hand. Then there were bloody towels upon the bathroom floor, and women's voices 315 00:23:47.559 --> 00:23:52.640 scolding and high over the confusion, a long broken wail of pain. Mister 316 00:23:52.720 --> 00:23:56.799 McKee awoke from his doze and started in a daze toward the door. When 317 00:23:56.880 --> 00:24:00.640 he had gone halfway, he had turned around and stared at the scene, 318 00:24:00.680 --> 00:24:04.359 his wife and Katherine scolding and consoling as they stumbled here and there among the 319 00:24:04.359 --> 00:24:10.240 crowded furniture with articles of aid, and the despairing figure on the couch, 320 00:24:10.359 --> 00:24:15.640 bleeding fluently and trying to spread a copy of Town Tattle over the tapestry scenes 321 00:24:15.680 --> 00:24:21.319 of Versailles. Then mister McKee turned and continued on out the door, taking 322 00:24:21.319 --> 00:24:25.680 my hat from the chandelier. I followed. Come to lunch some day, 323 00:24:25.839 --> 00:24:30.559 he suggested, as we groaned down in the elevator where anywhere, keep your 324 00:24:30.599 --> 00:24:34.799 hands off the lever snapped the elevator. Boy, I beg your pardon, 325 00:24:36.119 --> 00:24:38.839 said mister mc keee, with dignity. I didn't know I was touching it, 326 00:24:40.720 --> 00:24:45.359 all right, I agreed, I'll be glad to I was standing beside 327 00:24:45.359 --> 00:24:48.640 his bed, and he was sitting up between the sheets, clad in his 328 00:24:48.759 --> 00:24:52.960 underwear, with a great portfolio in his hands, Beauty and the Beast, 329 00:24:52.480 --> 00:24:59.680 Loneliness, Old Grocery Horse, Brooken Bridge. Then I was lying half asleep 330 00:24:59.720 --> 00:25:03.240 in the hold lower level of the Pennsylvania station, staring at the morning Tribune 331 00:25:03.480 --> 00:25:08.400 and waiting for the four o'clock train. End of chapter two.