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CHAPTER SEVEN

Meeting Jenny Again

Soon after that, I heard that I was leaving the army early, and they gave me some money for a train ticket to go home.

But all this time, I was thinking about Jenny Curran. Just before I left the hospital in Danang, I had a letter from her. She was now playing in a group called The Broken Eggs, and they played two nights each week at a place called the Hodaddy Club near Harvard University. Now that I was free from the army, I just wanted to go and see her. So I got a ticket for Boston, instead of Mobile.

I tried to walk to the Hodaddy Club from the train station, but I lost my way, so I took a taxi. It was in the afternoon, and the man behind the bar said, Jenny’ll be here about nine o’clock.’

‘Can I wait?’ I asked.

‘OK,’ he said.

So I sat down and waited for five or six hours.

Students began to come in, most of them wearing dirty jeans. The men had beards, and the women had long, untidy hair. Later, the group - The Broken Eggs - arrived, but I didn’t see Jenny. Then they began to play - and they were loud. The music sounded like a plane that was taking off! But the students loved it.

And then Jenny came on!

She was different. Her hair was all the way down her back, and she was wearing sun-glasses - at night! She was wearing blue jeans and a shirt with lots of colours on it. The group started playing again and Jenny began to sing.

Later, I went outside and walked round for about half an hour, then went back. There were a lot of people waiting to go in, so I went round to the back of the place and sat on the ground. I had my harmonica in my pocket, so I took it out and started to play.

I could hear the music that was playing inside and, after a minute or two, I began playing with it. Suddenly, a door behind me opened - and there was Jenny!

‘Who is that playing the harmonica?’ she said. And then she saw me. ‘Forrest Gump!’ And she ran out of the door and threw her arms round me.

We talked together until it was time for her to sing again.

‘I didn’t leave school,’ said Jenny. ‘They threw me out after they found a boy in my room one night. I went to California and stayed there for some time.’ She laughed. ‘I wore flowers in my hair, and talked about love. But the people that I was with were strange. Then I met a man, and we came to Boston. But he was dangerous. He was against the war, like me, but he blew up buildings and things. I couldn’t stay with him. Next, I met a teacher from Harvard University, but he was married. Then I began to sing with The Broken Eggs.’

‘Where do you live?’ I asked.

‘With my boyfriend,’ she said. ‘He’s a student. You can come back and stay with us tonight.’

The boyfriend’s name was Rudolph. He was a little man, and he was sitting on the floor with his eyes shut when we got to Jenny’s flat.

‘Rudolph, this is Forrest,’ Jenny said. ‘He’s a friend of mine from home, and he’s going to stay with us for a few days.’

Rudolph didn’t speak or open his eyes, but he put up his hand and smiled.

Next morning, when I got up, Rudolph was still sitting on the floor with his eyes shut.

That afternoon, Jenny took me to meet the other people in the group, and that night I began playing my harmonica with them at the Hodaddy Club. It went well, and I played with them every night after that.

Then one day I came back to the flat and Jenny was sitting on the floor.

‘Where’s Rudolph?’ I asked.

‘Gone,’ she said. ‘Walked out, like all the others.’ And then she started to cry.

‘Don’t cry, Jenny,’ I said. And I put my arm round her.

Well, it started like that. But the next minute we were kissing and making love! And when we finished, Jenny said, ‘Forrest, where have you been all this time?’