The ducks in the winter

I got in the cab, goddam it smelt. The thing that made it worse though was the fact that it was so goddam quiet out, even though it was Saturday night. I could hardly see anyone around! I was wishing I could just go home and shoot the bull with Pheobe, but after a while I sorta struck up conversation with the cab driver. His name was Horwitz, he was a better driver than the others i'd had. I asked him whether he knew where the ducks go in the winter. Goddam he got impatient about it. He wasn't a bad guy though. I told him about how they can't ignore the ice! He kept telling me to use my goddam head...but he wasn't a bad sorta guy. I obviously wasn't going to get an answer out of him so I dropped it. Once we got there I asked him if he'd like a drink, he just asked how old I was, I didn't answer him, just told him I wasn't tired so I didn't need to go to bed! It was pretty late but Ernies was packed. You could hardly even check your coat it was so crowded, but it was pretty quiet, because Ernie was playing. Everyone was pushing to try and see him, big deal. You couldn't even see his fingers while he played, just his big dumb old face. I don't know what it was he was playing but he wasn't half sucking it up. He was putting loades of fancy trills on the high notes. You should have heard the crowd once he finished, it was enough to make you puke! People always cheer and clap for the wrong things. If I were a piano player, i'd play in the goddam closet, I wouldn't want people sucking up to me like that, it's so phoney! Old Ernie gave this really phoney humble guy, ha! as if he was humble. It really was very phoney! I damn near got my coat and headed back to the hotel it made me so depressed, though I didn't feel much like being alone, so I stuck around.
Anyway, I finally got a table, up at the goddam wall behind a post where I couldn't see anything, it was one of those tiny ones that the people at the table wouldn't move to let you past, the bastards! It was one of those that you practically had to climb over the other tables just to get through. I was surrounded by jerks, one guy was telling the girl he was with about a pro football game he'd seen earlier that day. He was the most boring guy I had ever listened to, I swear it.
Ugly girls have it tough, I really feel sorry for them sometimes. On the other side there was this Joe Yale guy giving the girl he was with a feel under the table. She was good looking, but still it really wasn't what you should do in a public place.
All of a sudden this girl came over to me, it was Lillian Simmons. She went around with my brother D.B for a while. God she had big knockers! She really wanted to know how D.B was, you shoulda seen her when I told her he was in Hollywood, she was so interested. She introduced me to the Navy guy she was with, his name was Commander Blop or something.. he was one of those guys who thought he was a pansy or something if he didn't break all your fingers when he shook your hand! She was holding up the whole goddam aisle, I don't think she even noticed. The Navy guy did though and asked her to come on. She asked me join them but I told her I was leaving to meet someone. Then she left, I told the Navy guy I was glad to have met him. It kills me that when you tell someone you were glad to meet them and you weren't at all glad about it. After I had told her I was leaving, I had to leave, It made me pretty mad, why do people always have to ruin things for you?