{"id":"01KG6FVH1VMVSBT5EC3W58RY4Y","cid":"bafkreifgbizvxmkjadaalcpid2y7hlqbbhrngj724lqk775e53sufwn5uu","type":"chunk","properties":{"end_line":2131,"extracted_at":"2026-01-30T03:41:20.744Z","extracted_by":"structure-extraction-lambda","label":"Chunk 10","source_file":"01KG6FT59BXAZ3C5HRJ6SW8F58","start_line":2083,"text":"fish again. He certainly had it on his mind. \"Listen,\" he said. \"If you was a fish, Mother\nNature'd take care of you, wouldn't she? Right? You don't think them fish just die when it\ngets to be winter, do ya?\"\n\"No, but--\"\n\"You're goddam right they don't,\" Horwitz said, and drove off like a bat out of\nhell. He was about the touchiest guy I ever met. Everything you said made him sore.\nEven though it was so late, old Ernie's was jampacked. Mostly with prep school\njerks and college jerks. Almost every damn school in the world gets out earlier for\nChristmas vacation than the schools I go to. You could hardly check your coat, it was so\ncrowded. It was pretty quiet, though, because Ernie was playing the piano. It was\nsupposed to be something holy, for God's sake, when he sat down at the piano. Nobody's\nthat good. About three couples, besides me, were waiting for tables, and they were all\nshoving and standing on tiptoes to get a look at old Ernie while he played. He had a big\ndamn mirror in front of the piano, with this big spotlight on him, so that everybody could\nwatch his face while he played. You couldn't see his fingers while he played--just his big\nold face. Big deal. I'm not too sure what the name of the song was that he was playing\nwhen I came in, but whatever it was, he was really stinking it up. He was putting all these\ndumb, show-offy ripples in the high notes, and a lot of other very tricky stuff that gives\n\n\nme a pain in the ass. You should've heard the crowd, though, when he was finished. You\nwould've puked. They went mad. They were exactly the same morons that laugh like\nhyenas in the movies at stuff that isn't funny. I swear to God, if I were a piano player or\nan actor or something and all those dopes thought I was terrific, I'd hate it. I wouldn't\neven want them to clap for me. People always clap for the wrong things. If I were a piano\nplayer, I'd play it in the goddam closet. Anyway, when he was finished, and everybody\nwas clapping their heads off, old Ernie turned around on his stool and gave this very\nphony, humble bow. Like as if he was a helluva humble guy, besides being a terrific\npiano player. It was very phony--I mean him being such a big snob and all. In a funny\nway, though, I felt sort of sorry for him when he was finished. I don't even think he\nknows any more when he's playing right or not. It isn't all his fault. I partly blame all\nthose dopes that clap their heads off--they'd foul up anybody, if you gave them a chance.\nAnyway, it made me feel depressed and lousy again, and I damn near got my coat back\nand went back to the hotel, but it was too early and I didn't feel much like being all alone.\nThey finally got me this stinking table, right up against a wall and behind a\ngoddam post, where you couldn't see anything. It was one of those tiny little tables that if\nthe people at the next table don't get up to let you by--and they never do, the bastards--\nyou practically have to climb into your chair. I ordered a Scotch and soda, which is my\nfavorite drink, next to frozen Daiquiris. If you were only around six years old, you could\nget liquor at Ernie's, the place was so dark and all, and besides, nobody cared how old\nyou were. You could even be a dope fiend and nobody'd care.\nI was surrounded by jerks. I'm not kidding. At this other tiny table, right to my\nleft, practically on top of me, there was this funny-looking guy and this funny-looking\ngirl. They were around my age, or maybe just a little older. It was funny. You could see\nthey were being careful as hell not to drink up the minimum too fast. I listened to their\nconversation for a while, because I didn't have anything else to do. He was telling her\nabout some pro football game he'd seen that afternoon. He gave her every single goddam\nplay in the whole game--I'm not kidding. He was the most boring guy I ever listened to.\nAnd you could tell his date wasn't even interested in the goddam game, but she was even","title":"Chunk 10"},"relationships":[{"peer":"01KG6FV13CF8EYK8ZH4S5HFGWW","peer_type":"chapter","predicate":"in"},{"peer":"01KG6FT59BXAZ3C5HRJ6SW8F58","peer_type":"file","predicate":"extractedFrom"},{"peer":"01KFF1K6A8V452X8SQKY55DD16","peer_type":"collection","predicate":"collection"},{"peer":"01KG6FVH1QEDZWR8HWKP70701R","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"prev"},{"peer":"01KG6FVHMRRHEZYBJ6YHW4ZF2V","peer_type":"chunk","predicate":"next"}],"ver":2,"created_at":"2026-01-30T03:41:23.387Z","ts":"2026-01-30T03:41:29.609Z","edited_by":{"method":"manual","user_id":"01KFF0H3YRP9ZSM033AM0QJ47H"}}