Properties
- end_line
- 2098
- extracted_at
- 2026-01-27T17:15:17.643Z
- extracted_by
- structure-extraction-lambda
- start_line
- 2047
- text
- 1960 I stopped having a conversation with him, if he was going to get so damn touchy
1961 about it. But he started it up again himself. He turned all the way around again, and said,
1962 "The fish don't go no place. They stay right where they are, the fish. Right in the goddam
1963 lake."
1964 "The fish--that's different. The fish is different. I'm talking about the ducks," I
1965 said.
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1966 "What's different about it? Nothin's different about it," Horwitz said. Everything
1967 he said, he sounded sore about something. "It's tougher for the fish, the winter and all,
1968 than it is for the ducks, for Chrissake. Use your head, for Chrissake."
1969 I didn't say anything for about a minute. Then I said, "All right. What do they do,
1970 the fish and all, when that whole little lake's a solid block of ice, people skating on it and
1971 all?"
1972 Old Horwitz turned around again. "What the hellaya mean what do they do?" he
1973 yelled at me. "They stay right where they are, for Chrissake."
1974 "They can't just ignore the ice. They can't just ignore it."
1975 "Who's ignoring it? Nobody's ignoring it!" Horwitz said. He got so damn excited
1976 and all, I was afraid he was going to drive the cab right into a lamppost or something.
1977 "They live right in the goddam ice. It's their nature, for Chrissake. They get frozen right
1978 in one position for the whole winter."
1979 "Yeah? What do they eat, then? I mean if they're frozen solid, they can't swim
1980 around looking for food and all."
1981 "Their bodies, for Chrissake--what'sa matter with ya? Their bodies take in
1982 nutrition and all, right through the goddam seaweed and crap that's in the ice. They got
1983 their pores open the whole time. That's their nature, for Chrissake. See what I mean?" He
1984 turned way the hell around again to look at me.
1985 "Oh," I said. I let it drop. I was afraid he was going to crack the damn taxi up or
1986 something. Besides, he was such a touchy guy, it wasn't any pleasure discussing anything
1987 with him. "Would you care to stop off and have a drink with me somewhere?" I said.
1988 He didn't answer me, though. I guess he was still thinking. I asked him again,
1989 though. He was a pretty good guy. Quite amusing and all.
1990 "I ain't got no time for no liquor, bud," he said. "How the hell old are you,
1991 anyways? Why ain'tcha home in bed?"
1992 "I'm not tired."
1993 When I got out in front of Ernie's and paid the fare, old Horwitz brought up the
1994 fish again. He certainly had it on his mind. "Listen," he said. "If you was a fish, Mother
1995 Nature'd take care of you, wouldn't she? Right? You don't think them fish just die when it
1996 gets to be winter, do ya?"
1997 "No, but--"
1998 "You're goddam right they don't," Horwitz said, and drove off like a bat out of
1999 hell. He was about the touchiest guy I ever met. Everything you said made him sore.
2000 Even though it was so late, old Ernie's was jampacked. Mostly with prep school
2001 jerks and college jerks. Almost every damn school in the world gets out earlier for
2002 Christmas vacation than the schools I go to. You could hardly check your coat, it was so
2003 crowded. It was pretty quiet, though, because Ernie was playing the piano. It was
2004 supposed to be something holy, for God's sake, when he sat down at the piano. Nobody's
2005 that good. About three couples, besides me, were waiting for tables, and they were all
2006 shoving and standing on tiptoes to get a look at old Ernie while he played. He had a big
2007 damn mirror in front of the piano, with this big spotlight on him, so that everybody could
2008 watch his face while he played. You couldn't see his fingers while he played--just his big
2009 old face. Big deal. I'm not too sure what the name of the song was that he was playing
- title
- Chunk 2