Free A Stone for Danny Fisher (1952) by Harold Robbins

you really promise to stop,” I said.
    “Then I promise,” she said quickly, a smile breaking through her tears.
    I returned her smile. “Then I’m not mad any more,” I said. Suddenly I realized I had never really been mad at her. It was myself that I had been angry with. I had liked what she had done to me.
    We walked along, her hand still holding mine. Rexie ran into some open lots, and we waited for her to come out.
    Marjorie Ann looked up into my face. “Can I be your girl, Danny?”
    “Holy cow!” The exclamation burst from me involuntarily.
    Instantly the tears spilled over into her eyes again. She turned and began to run away from me, sobbing.
    I stood there for a moment gawking after her. Then I ran and caught her by the arm. “Marjorie Ann!”
    She turned to face me, her body still shaking with her tears.
    “Stop bawlin’,” I said. “You can be my girl if you want.”
    “Oh, Danny!” She threw her arms around my neck and tried to kiss me.
    I dodged her. “Aw, cut it Marge. You promised.”
    “Just a kiss, Danny,” she said quickly. “That’s all right if I’m your girl.”
    I stared at her. There was no arguing with her logic. Besides, I wanted to kiss her. “Okay,” I said grudgingly, “but that’s all!”
    She pulled my face down to her and kissed me. I could feel her warm lips moving under mine. I pulled her closer to me and she hid her face against my shoulder. I could hardly hear her voice. “I’ll do anything you want, now I’m your girl, Danny! Anything you want,” she repeated. “I won’t tease you any more.”
    Her eyes were shining earnestly. She didn’t seem like the same girl I had known all this time. There was a warmth in her that I had never seen before.
    I kissed her again, slowly. I could feel her pressing closely against me, and a fever rising in my blood. A pulse began to pound in my temples. Quickly I pushed her away.
    “Then let’s go home, Marjorie Ann,” I said gravely. “This is all I want.

    Papa called me as I started up the stairs. I came back to him. “Yes, Papa?”
    There was an embarrassed look on his face. He looked at Mamma, but she was reading the evening paper and didn’t even look up. He fixed his eyes somewhere on the floor and cleared his throat. “You’re going away for the first time, Danny,” he said awkwardly.
    “Yes, Papa.”
    He was looking up at the ceiling now, carefully avoiding my eyes. “You’re a big boy, Danny, and there’s certain things your mother and I feel we ought to tell you.”
    I grinned. “About girls, Papa?” I asked.
    He looked down at me in surprise. Mamma had put down her paper and was watching me.
    I smiled at them. “You’re a little late, Papa. They teach those things in school nowadays.”
    “They do?” he asked incredulously.
    I nodded my head, still grinning. “If there’s anything you want to know, Papa, don’t be shy. Just ask me.”
    A smile of relief came to his lips. “See, Mary,” he said, “I told you we didn’t have to say anything to him.”
    Mamma looked at me doubtfully.
    I smiled at her reassuringly. “You don’t have to worry, Mamma,” I reassured her. “I can take care of myself.”
    I went up the stairs still smiling. They just didn’t know who they were talking to. I was an expert on girls. Hadn’t I just proved that this evening?

Chapter Seven
    “D OES she lay, Danny?” I glanced at the boy disgustedly. His face was flushed as his eyes followed the girl on to the porch.
    I reached down and locked the concession counter before I answered him. If I had heard the question once, I had heard it a thousand times since I’d come up here. This was my third summer at the Mont-Fern Hotel and Country Club.
    “They all do,” I replied casually. “What the hell do you think they come up here for, fresh air and sunshine?”
    The other boys around the counter all joined in the laughter, but he was still watching her. “Man,” he said in an awed voice, “there’s