JONAH EATS GREEN PEAS


Eighteen months past, Jonah had met Ada, who worked at Packard's boot
factory, at a dance. Struck by her skill in dancing, he courted her in
the larrikin fashion. At night he stood in front of the house, and
whistled till she came out. Then they went to the park, where they
sprawled on the grass in obscure corners.

At intervals the quick spurt of a match lit up their faces, followed by
the red glow of Jonah's everlasting cigarette. Their talk ran incessantly
on their acquaintances, whose sayings and doings they discussed with
monotonous detail. If it rained, they stood under a veranda in the
conventional attitude--Jonah leaning against the wall, Ada standing in
front of him. The etiquette of Cardigan Street considered any other
position scandalous.

On Saturday night they went to Bob Fenner's dance-room, or strolled down
to Paddy's Market. When Jonah was flush, he took her to the "Tiv.",
where they sat in the gallery, packed like sardines. If it were hot,
Jonah sat in his shirtsleeves, and went out for a drink at the
intermission. When they reached home, they stood in the lane bordering
the cottage where Ada lived, and talked for an hour in the dim light of
the lamp opposite, before she went in.

Sometimes, in a gay humour, she knocked off Jonah's hat, and he retaliated
with a punch in the ribs. Then a scuffle followed, with slaps, blows