the cab i had was a real old one that smelled like someone'd just tossed his cookies in it. i always get those vomity kind of cabs if i go anywhere late at night. what made it worse, it was so quiet and lonesome out, even though it was saturday night. i didn't see hardly anybody on the street. now and then you just saw a man and a girl crossing a street, with their arms around each other's waists and all, or a bunch of hoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all of them laughing like hyenas at something you could bet wasn't funny. new york's terrible when somebody laughs on the street very late at night. you can hear it for miles. it makes you feel so lonesome and depressed. i kept wishing i could go home and shoot the bull for a while with old phoebe. but finally, after i was riding a while, the cab driver and i sort of struck up a conversation. his name was horwitz. he was a much better guy than the other driver i'd had. anyway, i thought maybe he might know about the ducks.

"hey, horwitz," i said. "you ever pass by the lagoon in central park? down by central park south?"

"the what?"

"the lagoon. that little lake, like, there. where the ducks are. you know."

"yeah, what about it?"

"well, you know the ducks that swim around in it? in the springtime and all? do you happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?"

"where who goes?"

"the ducks. do you know, by any chance? i mean does somebody come around in a truck or something and take them away, or do they fly away by themselves--go south or something?"

old horwitz turned all the way around and looked at me. he was a very impatient-type guy. he wasn't a bad guy, though. "how the hell should i know?" he said. "how the hell should i know a stupid thing like that?"

"well, don't get sore about it," i said. he was sore about it or something.

"who's sore? nobody's sore."

i stopped having a conversation with him, if he was going to get so damn touchy about it. but he started it up again himself. he turned all the way around again, and said, "the fish don't go no place. they stay right where they are, the fish. right in the goddam lake."

"the fish--that's different. the fish is different. i'm talking about the ducks," i said.

"what's different about it? nothin's different about it," horwitz said. everything he said, he sounded sore about something. "it's tougher for the fish, the winter and all, than it is for the ducks, for chrissake. use your head, for chrissake."

i didn't say anything for about a minute. then i said, "all right. what do they do, the fish and all, when that whole little lake's a solid block of ice, people skating on it and all?"

old horwitz turned around again. "what the hellaya mean what do they do?" he yelled at me. "they stay right where they are, for chrissake."

"they can't just ignore the ice. they can't just ignore it."

"who's ignoring it? nobody's ignoring it!" horwitz said. he got so damn excited and all, i was afraid he was going to drive the cab right into a lamppost or something. "they live right in the goddam ice. it's their nature, for chrissake. they get frozen right in one position for the whole winter."

"yeah? what do they eat, then? i mean if they're frozen solid, they can't swim around looking for food and all."

"their bodies, for chrissake--what'sa matter with ya? their bodies take in nutrition and all, right through the goddam seaweed and crap that's in the ice. they got their pores open the whole time. that's their nature, for chrissake. see what i mean?" he turned way the hell around again to look at me.

"oh," i said. i let it drop. i was afraid he was going to crack the damn taxi up or something. besides, he was such a touchy guy, it wasn't any pleasure discussing anything with him. "would you care to stop off and have a drink with me somewhere?" i said.

he didn't answer me, though. i guess he was still thinking. i asked him again, though. he was a pretty good guy. quite amusing and all.

"i ain't got no time for no liquor, bud," he said. "how the hell old are you, anyways? why ain'tcha home in bed?"

"i'm not tired."

when i got out in front of ernie's and paid the fare, old horwitz brought up the fish again. he certainly had it on his mind. "listen," he said. "if you was a fish, mother nature'd take care of you, wouldn't she? right? you don't think them fish just die when it gets to be winter, do ya?"

"no, but--"

"you're goddam right they don't," horwitz said, and drove off like a bat out of hell. he was about the touchiest guy i ever met. everything you said made him sore.

even though it was so late, old ernie's was jampacked. mostly with prep school jerks and college jerks. almost every damn school in the world gets out earlier for christmas vacation than the schools i go to. you could hardly check your coat, it was so crowded. it was pretty quiet, though, because ernie was playing the piano. it was supposed to be something holy, for god's sake, when he sat down at the piano. nobody's that good. about three couples, besides me, were waiting for tables, and they were all shoving and standing on tiptoes to get a look at old ernie while he played. he had a big damn mirror in front of the piano, with this big spotlight on him, so that everybody could watch his face while he played. you couldn't see his fingers while he played--just his big old face. big deal. i'm not too sure what the name of the song was that he was playing when i came in, but whatever it was, he was really stinking it up. he was putting all these dumb, show-offy ripples in the high notes, and a lot of other very tricky stuff that gives me a pain in the ass. you should've heard the crowd, though, when he was finished. you would've puked. they went mad. they were exactly the same morons that laugh like hyenas in the movies at stuff that isn't funny. i swear to god, if i were a piano player or an actor or something and all those dopes thought i was terrific, i'd hate it. i wouldn't even want them to clap for me. people always clap for the wrong things. if i were a piano player, i'd play it in the goddam closet. anyway, when he was finished, and everybody was clapping their heads off, old ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very phony, humble bow. like as if he was a helluva humble guy, besides being a terrific piano player. it was very phony--i mean him being such a big snob and all. in a funny way, though, i felt sort of sorry for him when he was finished. i don't even think he knows any more when he's playing right or not. it isn't all his fault. i partly blame all those dopes that clap their heads off--they'd foul up anybody, if you gave them a chance. anyway, it made me feel depressed and lousy again, and i damn near got my coat back and went back to the hotel, but it was too early and i didn't feel much like being all alone.

they finally got me this stinking table, right up against a wall and behind a goddam post, where you couldn't see anything. it was one of those tiny little tables that if the people at the next table don't get up to let you by--and they never do, the bastards--you practically have to climb into your chair. i ordered a scotch and soda, which is my favorite drink, next to frozen daiquiris. if you were only around six years old, you could get liquor at ernie's, the place was so dark and all, and besides, nobody cared how old you were. you could even be a dope fiend and nobody'd care.

i was surrounded by jerks. i'm not kidding. at this other tiny table, right to my left, practically on top of me, there was this funny-looking guy and this funny-looking girl. they were around my age, or maybe just a little older. it was funny. you could see they were being careful as hell not to drink up the minimum too fast. i listened to their conversation for a while, because i didn't have anything else to do. he was telling her about some pro football game he'd seen that afternoon. he gave her every single goddam play in the whole game--i'm not kidding. he was the most boring guy i ever listened to. and you could tell his date wasn't even interested in the goddam game, but she was even funnier-looking than he was, so i guess she had to listen. real ugly girls have it tough. i feel so sorry for them sometimes. sometimes i can't even look at them, especially if they're with some dopey guy that's telling them all about a goddam football game. on my right, the conversation was even worse, though. on my right there was this very joe yale-looking guy, in a gray flannel suit and one of those flitty-looking tattersall vests. all those ivy league bastards look alike. my father wants me to go to yale, or maybe princeton, but i swear, i wouldn't go to one of those ivy league colleges, if i was dying, for god's sake. anyway, this joe yale-looking guy had a terrific-looking girl with him. boy, she was good-looking. but you should've heard the conversation they were having. in the first place, they were both slightly crocked. what he was doing, he was giving her a feel under the table, and at the same time telling her all about some guy in his dorm that had eaten a whole bottle of aspirin and nearly committed suicide. his date kept saying to him, "how horrible . . . don't, darling. please, don't. not here." imagine giving somebody a feel and telling them about a guy committing suicide at the same time! they killed me.

i certainly began to feel like a prize horse's ass, though, sitting there all by myself. there wasn't anything to do except smoke and drink. what i did do, though, i told the waiter to ask old ernie if he'd care to join me for a drink. i told him to tell him i was d.b.'s brother. i don't think he ever even gave him my message, though. those bastards never give your message to anybody.

all of a sudden, this girl came up to me and said, "holden caulfield!" her name was lillian simmons. my brother d.b. used to go around with her for a while. she had very big knockers.

"hi," i said. i tried to get up, naturally, but it was some job getting up, in a place like that. she had some navy officer with her that looked like he had a poker up his ass.

"how marvelous to see you!" old lillian simmons said. strictly a phony. "how's your big brother?" that's all she really wanted to know.

"he's fine. he's in hollywood."

"in hollywood! how marvelous! what's he doing?"

"i don't know. writing," i said. i didn't feel like discussing it. you could tell she thought it was a big deal, his being in hollywood. almost everybody does. mostly people who've never read any of his stories. it drives me crazy, though.

"how exciting," old lillian said. then she introduced me to the navy guy. his name was commander blop or something. he was one of those guys that think they're being a pansy if they don't break around forty of your fingers when they shake hands with you. god, i hate that stuff. "are you all alone, baby?" old lillian asked me. she was blocking up the whole goddam traffic in the aisle. you could tell she liked to block up a lot of traffic. this waiter was waiting for her to move out of the way, but she didn't even notice him. it was funny. you could tell the waiter didn't like her much, you could tell even the navy guy didn't like her much, even though he was dating her. and i didn't like her much. nobody did. you had to feel sort of sorry for her, in a way. "don't you have a date, baby?" she asked me. i was standing up now, and she didn't even tell me to sit down. she was the type that keeps you standing up for hours. "isn't he handsome?" she said to the navy guy. "holden, you're getting handsomer by the minute." the navy guy told her to come on. he told her they were blocking up the whole aisle. "holden, come join us," old lillian said. "bring your drink."

"i was just leaving," i told her. "i have to meet somebody." you could tell she was just trying to get in good with me. so that i'd tell old d.b. about it.

"well, you little so-and-so. all right for you. tell your big brother i hate him, when you see him."

then she left. the navy guy and i told each other we were glad to've met each other. which always kills me. i'm always saying "glad to've met you" to somebody i'm not at all glad i met. if you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.

after i'd told her i had to meet somebody, i didn't have any goddam choice except to leave. i couldn't even stick around to hear old ernie play something halfway decent. but i certainly wasn't going to sit down at a table with old lillian simmons and that navy guy and be bored to death. so i left. it made me mad, though, when i was getting my coat. people are always ruining things for you.