{"id":"01KG0725EFD6HYGB5WBTY79C4G","cid":"bafkreiboe5vorywcdku4u4j7navq4th72khkkuwqkfl27taevfkvnbqzmq","type":"chapter","properties":{"description":"# Chapter 12\n\n## Overview\nThis entity is a chapter from a literary work, labeled as \"12\" and extracted from a source file dated 2026. It consists of 173 lines of narrative text (lines 2018–2190) and is divided into five smaller text chunks for processing. The chapter is part of the collection [More Classics](arke:01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS), which includes canonical Western texts.\n\n## Context\nThe chapter is narrated in the first person and features the voice of Holden Caulfield, a well-known character from J.D. Salinger’s *The Catcher in the Rye*. The narrative takes place in New York City during winter and reflects Holden’s alienation, cynicism, and preoccupation with authenticity. The events follow his late-night cab ride to Ernie’s, a nightclub in Greenwich Village. The chapter captures his internal struggle with loneliness and his critical observations of social behavior, consistent with the novel’s broader themes of adolescence, identity, and societal phoniness.\n\n## Contents\nThe chapter opens with Holden riding in a cab driven by a man named Horwitz. During the ride, Holden asks about the winter fate of the ducks in Central Park’s lagoon, a recurring motif symbolizing his anxiety about change and displacement. The conversation shifts to the fish in the frozen lake, with Horwitz offering a crude but earnest explanation that frustrates Holden. After arriving at Ernie’s, Holden observes the crowded, pretentious atmosphere, criticizing the pianist Ernie for his showy performance and the audience for applauding insincerely. He feels increasingly isolated, surrounded by what he perceives as “jerks” and superficial interactions, including a flirtatious couple and a dull conversation about football. His discomfort peaks when Lillian Simmons, an acquaintance of his older brother D.B., recognizes him and invites him to join her and her Navy date. Holden declines, claiming he must meet someone, but admits he is lying to escape an awkward situation. The chapter ends with Holden leaving the club, angry at how others disrupt his experience, underscoring his deep sense of alienation.","description_generated_at":"2026-01-27T17:22:14.696Z","description_model":"Qwen/Qwen3-235B-A22B-Instruct-2507","description_title":"Chapter 12","end_line":2190,"extracted_at":"2026-01-27T17:12:16.500Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"12","source_file":"01KFYTG9MG93RTB6YAW34V48XG","start_line":2018,"text":"  1931\t12\n  1932\tThe cab I had was a real old one that smelled like someone'd just tossed his\n  1933\tcookies in it. I always get those vomity kind of cabs if I go anywhere late at night. What\n  1934\tmade it worse, it was so quiet and lonesome out, even though it was Saturday night. I\n  1935\tdidn't see hardly anybody on the street. Now and then you just saw a man and a girl\n  1936\tcrossing a street, with their arms around each other's waists and all, or a bunch of\n  1937\thoodlumy-looking guys and their dates, all of them laughing like hyenas at something\n  1938\tyou could bet wasn't funny. New York's terrible when somebody laughs on the street very\n  1939\tlate at night. You can hear it for miles. It makes you feel so lonesome and depressed. I\n  1940\tkept wishing I could go home and shoot the bull for a while with old Phoebe. But finally,\n  1941\tafter I was riding a while, the cab driver and I sort of struck up a conversation. His name\n  1942\twas Horwitz. He was a much better guy than the other driver I'd had. Anyway, I thought\n  1943\tmaybe he might know about the ducks.\n  1944\t\"Hey, Horwitz,\" I said. \"You ever pass by the lagoon in Central Park? Down by\n  1945\tCentral Park South?\"\n  1946\t\"The what?\"\n  1947\t\"The lagoon. That little lake, like, there. Where the ducks are. You know.\"\n  1948\t\"Yeah, what about it?\"\n  1949\t\"Well, you know the ducks that swim around in it? In the springtime and all? Do\n  1950\tyou happen to know where they go in the wintertime, by any chance?\"\n  1951\t\"Where who goes?\"\n  1952\t\"The ducks. Do you know, by any chance? I mean does somebody come around\n  1953\tin a truck or something and take them away, or do they fly away by themselves--go south\n  1954\tor something?\"\n  1955\tOld Horwitz turned all the way around and looked at me. He was a very\n  1956\timpatient-type guy. He wasn't a bad guy, though. \"How the hell should I know?\" he said.\n  1957\t\"How the hell should I know a stupid thing like that?\"\n  1958\t\"Well, don't get sore about it,\" I said. He was sore about it or something.\n  1959\t\"Who's sore? Nobody's sore.\"\n  1960\tI stopped having a conversation with him, if he was going to get so damn touchy\n  1961\tabout it. But he started it up again himself. He turned all the way around again, and said,\n  1962\t\"The fish don't go no place. They stay right where they are, the fish. Right in the goddam\n  1963\tlake.\"\n  1964\t\"The fish--that's different. The fish is different. I'm talking about the ducks,\" I\n  1965\tsaid.\n\n<!-- [Page 45](arke:01KFYTACA42TMR5YXPR0258CM3) -->\n  1966\t\"What's different about it? Nothin's different about it,\" Horwitz said. Everything\n  1967\the said, he sounded sore about something. \"It's tougher for the fish, the winter and all,\n  1968\tthan it is for the ducks, for Chrissake. Use your head, for Chrissake.\"\n  1969\tI didn't say anything for about a minute. Then I said, \"All right. What do they do,\n  1970\tthe fish and all, when that whole little lake's a solid block of ice, people skating on it and\n  1971\tall?\"\n  1972\tOld Horwitz turned around again. \"What the hellaya mean what do they do?\" he\n  1973\tyelled at me. \"They stay right where they are, for Chrissake.\"\n  1974\t\"They can't just ignore the ice. They can't just ignore it.\"\n  1975\t\"Who's ignoring it? Nobody's ignoring it!\" Horwitz said. He got so damn excited\n  1976\tand all, I was afraid he was going to drive the cab right into a lamppost or something.\n  1977\t\"They live right in the goddam ice. It's their nature, for Chrissake. They get frozen right\n  1978\tin one position for the whole winter.\"\n  1979\t\"Yeah? What do they eat, then? I mean if they're frozen solid, they can't swim\n  1980\taround looking for food and all.\"\n  1981\t\"Their bodies, for Chrissake--what'sa matter with ya? Their bodies take in\n  1982\tnutrition and all, right through the goddam seaweed and crap that's in the ice. They got\n  1983\ttheir pores open the whole time. That's their nature, for Chrissake. See what I mean?\" He\n  1984\tturned way the hell around again to look at me.\n  1985\t\"Oh,\" I said. I let it drop. I was afraid he was going to crack the damn taxi up or\n  1986\tsomething. Besides, he was such a touchy guy, it wasn't any pleasure discussing anything\n  1987\twith him. \"Would you care to stop off and have a drink with me somewhere?\" I said.\n  1988\tHe didn't answer me, though. I guess he was still thinking. I asked him again,\n  1989\tthough. He was a pretty good guy. Quite amusing and all.\n  1990\t\"I ain't got no time for no liquor, bud,\" he said. \"How the hell old are you,\n  1991\tanyways? Why ain'tcha home in bed?\"\n  1992\t\"I'm not tired.\"\n  1993\tWhen I got out in front of Ernie's and paid the fare, old Horwitz brought up the\n  1994\tfish again. He certainly had it on his mind. \"Listen,\" he said. \"If you was a fish, Mother\n  1995\tNature'd take care of you, wouldn't she? Right? You don't think them fish just die when it\n  1996\tgets to be winter, do ya?\"\n  1997\t\"No, but--\"\n  1998\t\"You're goddam right they don't,\" Horwitz said, and drove off like a bat out of\n  1999\thell. He was about the touchiest guy I ever met. Everything you said made him sore.\n  2000\tEven though it was so late, old Ernie's was jampacked. Mostly with prep school\n  2001\tjerks and college jerks. Almost every damn school in the world gets out earlier for\n  2002\tChristmas vacation than the schools I go to. You could hardly check your coat, it was so\n  2003\tcrowded. It was pretty quiet, though, because Ernie was playing the piano. It was\n  2004\tsupposed to be something holy, for God's sake, when he sat down at the piano. Nobody's\n  2005\tthat good. About three couples, besides me, were waiting for tables, and they were all\n  2006\tshoving and standing on tiptoes to get a look at old Ernie while he played. He had a big\n  2007\tdamn mirror in front of the piano, with this big spotlight on him, so that everybody could\n  2008\twatch his face while he played. You couldn't see his fingers while he played--just his big\n  2009\told face. Big deal. I'm not too sure what the name of the song was that he was playing\n  2010\twhen I came in, but whatever it was, he was really stinking it up. He was putting all these\n  2011\tdumb, show-offy ripples in the high notes, and a lot of other very tricky stuff that gives\n\n<!-- [Page 46](arke:01KFYTAC67JMM6EV4SXH3MQ3XG) -->\n  2012\tme a pain in the ass. You should've heard the crowd, though, when he was finished. You\n  2013\twould've puked. They went mad. They were exactly the same morons that laugh like\n  2014\thyenas in the movies at stuff that isn't funny. I swear to God, if I were a piano player or\n  2015\tan actor or something and all those dopes thought I was terrific, I'd hate it. I wouldn't\n  2016\teven want them to clap for me. People always clap for the wrong things. If I were a piano\n  2017\tplayer, I'd play it in the goddam closet. Anyway, when he was finished, and everybody\n  2018\twas clapping their heads off, old Ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very\n  2019\tphony, humble bow. Like as if he was a helluva humble guy, besides being a terrific\n  2020\tpiano player. It was very phony--I mean him being such a big snob and all. In a funny\n  2021\tway, though, I felt sort of sorry for him when he was finished. I don't even think he\n  2022\tknows any more when he's playing right or not. It isn't all his fault. I partly blame all\n  2023\tthose dopes that clap their heads off--they'd foul up anybody, if you gave them a chance.\n  2024\tAnyway, it made me feel depressed and lousy again, and I damn near got my coat back\n  2025\tand went back to the hotel, but it was too early and I didn't feel much like being all alone.\n  2026\tThey finally got me this stinking table, right up against a wall and behind a\n  2027\tgoddam post, where you couldn't see anything. It was one of those tiny little tables that if\n  2028\tthe people at the next table don't get up to let you by--and they never do, the bastards--\n  2029\tyou practically have to climb into your chair. I ordered a Scotch and soda, which is my\n  2030\tfavorite drink, next to frozen Daiquiris. If you were only around six years old, you could\n  2031\tget liquor at Ernie's, the place was so dark and all, and besides, nobody cared how old\n  2032\tyou were. You could even be a dope fiend and nobody'd care.\n  2033\tI was surrounded by jerks. I'm not kidding. At this other tiny table, right to my\n  2034\tleft, practically on top of me, there was this funny-looking guy and this funny-looking\n  2035\tgirl. They were around my age, or maybe just a little older. It was funny. You could see\n  2036\tthey were being careful as hell not to drink up the minimum too fast. I listened to their\n  2037\tconversation for a while, because I didn't have anything else to do. He was telling her\n  2038\tabout some pro football game he'd seen that afternoon. He gave her every single goddam\n  2039\tplay in the whole game--I'm not kidding. He was the most boring guy I ever listened to.\n  2040\tAnd you could tell his date wasn't even interested in the goddam game, but she was even\n  2041\tfunnier-looking than he was, so I guess she had to listen. Real ugly girls have it tough. I\n  2042\tfeel so sorry for them sometimes. Sometimes I can't even look at them, especially if\n  2043\tthey're with some dopey guy that's telling them all about a goddam football game. On my\n  2044\tright, the conversation was even worse, though. On my right there was this very Joe\n  2045\tYale-looking guy, in a gray flannel suit and one of those flitty-looking Tattersall vests.\n  2046\tAll those Ivy League bastards look alike. My father wants me to go to Yale, or maybe\n  2047\tPrinceton, but I swear, I wouldn't go to one of those Ivy League colleges, if I was dying,\n  2048\tfor God's sake. Anyway, this Joe Yale-looking guy had a terrific-looking girl with him.\n  2049\tBoy, she was good-looking. But you should've heard the conversation they were having.\n  2050\tIn the first place, they were both slightly crocked. What he was doing, he was giving her\n  2051\ta feel under the table, and at the same time telling her all about some guy in his dorm that\n  2052\thad eaten a whole bottle of aspirin and nearly committed suicide. His date kept saying to\n  2053\thim, \"How horrible . . . Don't, darling. Please, don't. Not here.\" Imagine giving somebody\n  2054\ta feel and telling them about a guy committing suicide at the same time! They killed me.\n  2055\tI certainly began to feel like a prize horse's ass, though, sitting there all by myself.\n  2056\tThere wasn't anything to do except smoke and drink. What I did do, though, I told the\n  2057\twaiter to ask old Ernie if he'd care to join me for a drink. I told him to tell him I was\n\n<!-- [Page 47](arke:01KFYTACA1YX1TB7SR8QZ4H6AM) -->\n  2058\tD.B.'s brother. I don't think he ever even gave him my message, though. Those bastards\n  2059\tnever give your message to anybody.\n  2060\tAll of a sudden, this girl came up to me and said, \"Holden Caulfield!\" Her name\n  2061\twas Lillian Simmons. My brother D.B. used to go around with her for a while. She had\n  2062\tvery big knockers.\n  2063\t\"Hi,\" I said. I tried to get up, naturally, but it was some job getting up, in a place\n  2064\tlike that. She had some Navy officer with her that looked like he had a poker up his ass.\n  2065\t\"How marvelous to see you!\" old Lillian Simmons said. Strictly a phony. \"How's\n  2066\tyour big brother?\" That's all she really wanted to know.\n  2067\t\"He's fine. He's in Hollywood.\"\n  2068\t\"In Hollywood! How marvelous! What's he doing?\"\n  2069\t\"I don't know. Writing,\" I said. I didn't feel like discussing it. You could tell she\n  2070\tthought it was a big deal, his being in Hollywood. Almost everybody does. Mostly people\n  2071\twho've never read any of his stories. It drives me crazy, though.\n  2072\t\"How exciting,\" old Lillian said. Then she introduced me to the Navy guy. His\n  2073\tname was Commander Blop or something. He was one of those guys that think they're\n  2074\tbeing a pansy if they don't break around forty of your fingers when they shake hands with\n  2075\tyou. God, I hate that stuff. \"Are you all alone, baby?\" old Lillian asked me. She was\n  2076\tblocking up the whole goddam traffic in the aisle. You could tell she liked to block up a\n  2077\tlot of traffic. This waiter was waiting for her to move out of the way, but she didn't even\n  2078\tnotice him. It was funny. You could tell the waiter didn't like her much, you could tell\n  2079\teven the Navy guy didn't like her much, even though he was dating her. And I didn't like\n  2080\ther much. Nobody did. You had to feel sort of sorry for her, in a way. \"Don't you have a\n  2081\tdate, baby?\" she asked me. I was standing up now, and she didn't even tell me to sit\n  2082\tdown. She was the type that keeps you standing up for hours. \"Isn't he handsome?\" she\n  2083\tsaid to the Navy guy. \"Holden, you're getting handsomer by the minute.\" The Navy guy\n  2084\ttold her to come on. He told her they were blocking up the whole aisle. \"Holden, come\n  2085\tjoin us,\" old Lillian said. \"Bring your drink.\"\n  2086\t\"I was just leaving,\" I told her. \"I have to meet somebody.\" You could tell she was\n  2087\tjust trying to get in good with me. So that I'd tell old D.B. about it.\n  2088\t\"Well, you little so-and-so. All right for you. Tell your big brother I hate him,\n  2089\twhen you see him.\"\n  2090\tThen she left. The Navy guy and I told each other we were glad to've met each\n  2091\tother. Which always kills me. I'm always saying \"Glad to've met you\" to somebody I'm\n  2092\tnot at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.\n  2093\tAfter I'd told her I had to meet somebody, I didn't have any goddam choice except\n  2094\tto leave. I couldn't even stick around to hear old Ernie play something halfway decent.\n  2095\tBut I certainly wasn't going to sit down at a table with old Lillian Simmons and that Navy\n  2096\tguy and be bored to death. So I left. It made me mad, though, when I was getting my\n  2097\tcoat. People are always ruining things for you.","title":"12"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG077P1SACGBG9MCQEB6E0FB","peer_label":"Chunk 1","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"},{"peer":"01KG077P3YJXN955BMZMJXD3FP","peer_label":"Chunk 2","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"},{"peer":"01KG078AH1T9GPWPV5KHVNC5SF","peer_label":"Chunk 3","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"},{"peer":"01KG077P1QHM4BV3XY629JD07H","peer_label":"Chunk 4","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"},{"peer":"01KG077P1HM2CMK986T4QGKM0A","peer_label":"Chunk 5","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"contains"}],"ver":3,"created_at":"2026-01-27T17:12:17.268Z","ts":"2026-01-27T17:22:15.089Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF5C36SQEVDHC9CBNZZJH9K"}}