But what is the real thing? In the original manuscript of “Why Don’t You
Dance?”, before Lish’s blue pencil descended, the girl's sympathetic words
to the yard sale vendor, “You must be desperate or something”, are not
uttered while the pair are dancing. The sentence is adapted from an earlier
remark she makes to her boyfriend when they first inspect the items for
sale. “They must be desperate or something.” The vendor has yet to make an
entrance. It was Lish who changed the words and placed them in her mouth as
she “pushed her face into the man’s shoulder”, making it the emotional high
point of the narrative.