Before dates, the redhead, all dressed, might stand before Stern and
say, "Check my hair."
"Fine," Stern would say.
"Suit?"
"Excellent."
"Check me for Jewishness."
"Reject," Stern would say, and all would become convulsed. Footsy would
then bare a womanly breast and say, "Here, One-Gag, practice on this
little beauty." After dates, all would compare how they had done, in
crisp, codelike sum-ups.
"Knee and conversation," the redhead might say, and Stern would add
he'd gotten "elbow and upper thigh." Footsy, who took out homelier
girls, would generally have come through with "outside of bra, heavy
breathing, and an ear job." Then Stern and the redhead would get into
their beds, turn out the lights, and listen to Footsy do a high-pitched
imitation of an imaginary date being seduced by any one of the
room-mates. "Oh, Gordon, you're very cute, but I can't possibly do any
screwing. I'll take off my panties, but you've got to promise there'll
be no screwing. You promise?" Footsy's voice was so convincing and the
girl so appealing that Stern and Wiegel (who often came in late at
night for the imitations, rubbing his sick feet) would beg him to do
another, substituting _their_ names.
Going along with the Jewish comedy routines, Stern began to call
Footsy, his motherly, good-natured room-mate, "Little Jew." In the
morning when he woke up, he'd say, "Morning, Little Jew," and after
classes he would ask, "How's Little Jew getting along?" It sounded good
on Stern's tongue, nice and comfortable. He said it in two syllables,
and it came out "Gee-yoo," and when he said it, he would bare his teeth
and get a disgusted look on his face, which he felt would add to the
irony and comic effect of the routine.
It was fun to say, and he began to call Footsy "Little Gee-yoo" at
every possible opportunity, making terrible faces and then poking
Footsy in the ribs with a laugh. It made him feel fine to keep saying
it. One day the three room-mates were on their way to the ice-cream
parlor where gentile girls hung out after class. Each time a group of
girls walked by, Footsy would say to the redhead, "Tell them your one
gag, One-Gag. That'll have them swarming all over us." And Stern would
say to Footsy, "What did the little Gee-yoo think of that group?" At
the ice-cream parlor, Stern held the door for Footsy, saying, "You
first, Little Gee-yoo," and Footsy turned and said, "No more."
"What do you mean, Little Gee-yoo?"
"Don't call me that any more."
"The Little Gee-yoo doesn't like to be called Little Gee-yoo. Little
Gee-yoo. Little Gee-yoo." It felt so good that Stern said it a few more
times.
The three were inside the ice-cream parlor now, and Footsy said, "If
you keep doing that, I have something I'll call you."
"There's nothing, Little Gee-yoo. Nothing at all."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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