Properties
- end_line
- 1522
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-27T17:14:41.541Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 1473
- text
- 1410 9
1411 The first thing I did when I got off at Penn Station, I went into this phone booth. I
1412 felt like giving somebody a buzz. I left my bags right outside the booth so that I could
1413 watch them, but as soon as I was inside, I couldn't think of anybody to call up. My
1414 brother D.B. was in Hollywood. My kid sister Phoebe goes to bed around nine o'clock--
1415 so I couldn't call her up. She wouldn't've cared if I'd woke her up, but the trouble was, she
1416 wouldn't've been the one that answered the phone. My parents would be the ones. So that
1417 was out. Then I thought of giving Jane Gallagher's mother a buzz, and find out when
1418 Jane's vacation started, but I didn't feel like it. Besides, it was pretty late to call up. Then I
1419 thought of calling this girl I used to go around with quite frequently, Sally Hayes,
1420 because I knew her Christmas vacation had started already--she'd written me this long,
1421 phony letter, inviting me over to help her trim the Christmas tree Christmas Eve and all--
1422 but I was afraid her mother'd answer the phone. Her mother knew my mother, and I could
1423 picture her breaking a goddam leg to get to the phone and tell my mother I was in New
1424 York. Besides, I wasn't crazy about talking to old Mrs. Hayes on the phone. She once told
1425 Sally I was wild. She said I was wild and that I had no direction in life. Then I thought of
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1426 calling up this guy that went to the Whooton School when I was there, Carl Luce, but I
1427 didn't like him much. So I ended up not calling anybody. I came out of the booth, after
1428 about twenty minutes or so, and got my bags and walked over to that tunnel where the
1429 cabs are and got a cab.
1430 I'm so damn absent-minded, I gave the driver my regular address, just out of habit
1431 and all--I mean I completely forgot I was going to shack up in a hotel for a couple of days
1432 and not go home till vacation started. I didn't think of it till we were halfway through the
1433 park. Then I said, "Hey, do you mind turning around when you get a chance? I gave you
1434 the wrong address. I want to go back downtown."
1435 The driver was sort of a wise guy. "I can't turn around here, Mac. This here's a
1436 one-way. I'll have to go all the way to Ninedieth Street now."
1437 I didn't want to start an argument. "Okay," I said. Then I thought of something, all
1438 of a sudden. "Hey, listen," I said. "You know those ducks in that lagoon right near
1439 Central Park South? That little lake? By any chance, do you happen to know where they
1440 go, the ducks, when it gets all frozen over? Do you happen to know, by any chance?" I
1441 realized it was only one chance in a million.
1442 He turned around and looked at me like I was a madman. "What're ya tryna do,
1443 bud?" he said. "Kid me?"
1444 "No--I was just interested, that's all."
1445 He didn't say anything more, so I didn't either. Until we came out of the park at
1446 Ninetieth Street. Then he said, "All right, buddy. Where to?"
1447 "Well, the thing is, I don't want to stay at any hotels on the East Side where I
1448 might run into some acquaintances of mine. I'm traveling incognito," I said. I hate saying
1449 corny things like "traveling incognito." But when I'm with somebody that's corny, I
1450 always act corny too. "Do you happen to know whose band's at the Taft or the New
1451 Yorker, by any chance?"
1452 "No idear, Mac."
1453 "Well--take me to the Edmont then," I said. "Would you care to stop on the way
1454 and join me for a cocktail? On me. I'm loaded."
1455 "Can't do it, Mac. Sorry." He certainly was good company. Terrific personality.
1456 We got to the Edmont Hotel, and I checked in. I'd put on my red hunting cap
1457 when 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