{"id":"01KG076JSPPJ8VBRESWRSDKKTH","cid":"bafkreigmrg465r2h3jslsosdtqhhidgov2rpo4ssoafoaoo7pfodtlfmga","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":1522,"extracted_at":"2026-01-27T17:14:41.541Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 1","source_file":"01KFYTG9MG93RTB6YAW34V48XG","start_line":1473,"text":" 1410\t9\n 1411\tThe first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I\n 1412\tfelt like giving somebody a buzz. I left my bags right outside the booth so that I could\n 1413\twatch them, but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up. My\n 1414\tbrother D.B. was in Hollywood. My kid sister Phoebe goes to bed around nine o'clock--\n 1415\tso I couldn't call her up. She wouldn't've cared if I'd woke her up, but the trouble was, she\n 1416\twouldn't've been the one that answered the phone. My parents would be the ones. So that\n 1417\twas out. Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz, and find out when\n 1418\tJane's vacation started, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, it was pretty late to call up. Then I\n 1419\tthought of calling this girl I used to go around with quite frequently, Sally Hayes,\n 1420\tbecause I knew her Christmas vacation had started already--she'd written me this long,\n 1421\tphony letter, inviting me over to help her trim the Christmas tree Christmas Eve and all--\n 1422\tbut I was afraid her mother'd answer the phone. Her mother knew my mother, and I could\n 1423\tpicture her breaking a goddam leg to get to the phone and tell my mother I was in New\n 1424\tYork. Besides, I wasn't crazy about talking to old Mrs. Hayes on the phone. She once told\n 1425\tSally I was wild. She said I was wild and that I had no direction in life. Then I thought of\n\n\n 1426\tcalling up this guy that went to the Whooton School when I was there, Carl Luce, but I\n 1427\tdidn't like him much. So I ended up not calling anybody. I came out of the booth, after\n 1428\tabout twenty minutes or so, and got my bags and walked over to that tunnel where the\n 1429\tcabs are and got a cab.\n 1430\tI'm so damn absent-minded, I gave the driver my regular address, just out of habit\n 1431\tand all--I mean I completely forgot I was going to shack up in a hotel for a couple of days\n 1432\tand not go home till vacation started. I didn't think of it till we were halfway through the\n 1433\tpark. Then I said, \"Hey, do you mind turning around when you get a chance? I gave you\n 1434\tthe wrong address. I want to go back downtown.\"\n 1435\tThe driver was sort of a wise guy. \"I can't turn around here, Mac. This here's a\n 1436\tone-way. I'll have to go all the way to Ninedieth Street now.\"\n 1437\tI didn't want to start an argument. \"Okay,\" I said. Then I thought of something, all\n 1438\tof a sudden. \"Hey, listen,\" I said. \"You know those ducks in that lagoon right near\n 1439\tCentral Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they\n 1440\tgo, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?\" I\n 1441\trealized it was only one chance in a million.\n 1442\tHe turned around and looked at me like I was a madman. \"What're ya tryna do,\n 1443\tbud?\" he said. \"Kid me?\"\n 1444\t\"No--I was just interested, that's all.\"\n 1445\tHe didn't say anything more, so I didn't either. Until we came out of the park at\n 1446\tNinetieth Street. Then he said, \"All right, buddy. Where to?\"\n 1447\t\"Well, the thing is, I don't want to stay at any hotels on the East Side where I\n 1448\tmight run into some acquaintances of mine. I'm traveling incognito,\" I said. I hate saying\n 1449\tcorny things like \"traveling incognito.\" But when I'm with somebody that's corny, I\n 1450\talways act corny too. \"Do you happen to know whose band's at the Taft or the New\n 1451\tYorker, by any chance?\"\n 1452\t\"No idear, Mac.\"\n 1453\t\"Well--take me to the Edmont then,\" I said. \"Would you care to stop on the way\n 1454\tand join me for a cocktail? On me. I'm loaded.\"\n 1455\t\"Can't do it, Mac. Sorry.\" He certainly was good company. Terrific personality.\n 1456\tWe got to the Edmont Hotel, and I checked in. I'd put on my red hunting cap\n 1457\twhen I was in the cab, just for the hell of it, but I took it off before I checked in. I didn't","title":"Chunk 1"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG0725E9A9CCEYGRP2MDJ6G5","peer_label":"Chapter 9","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KFXT0KM64XT6K8W52TDEE0YS","peer_label":"More Classics","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"}],"ver":1,"created_at":"2026-01-27T17:14:42.087Z","ts":"2026-01-27T17:14:42.087Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}