The Catcher in the Rye Chapter 12 Summary

Holden gets into a "vomity" cab with a driver named Horwitz. He's depressed about the empty New York streets, but asks anyway about the ducks and where they go in the winter when the lagoon freezes over.
Horwitz doesn't know. He does add, however, that the fish stay right where they are. Their pores open up, he insists, and they take in nutrients from all the seaweed and stuff around them, even while they're frozen right there in place.
Holden asks the guy if he wants to have a drink with him, but Horwitz replies that he has no time.
As Holden exits the cab, Horwitz insists that the fish are taken care of, because Mother Nature wouldn't leave them to fend for themselves. He's quite worked up about the whole thing.
Holden shows up to old Ernie's where everyone is intently listening to the piano. The crowd is just a bunch of morons, the kind who laugh at movies that aren't funny. Ernie even bows, which Holden finds disgusting.
He finds a seat and orders a scotch and soda, adding that no matter how old you are, you can always drink at Ernie's.
Holden listens in on the conversation of these two people sitting next to him. The guy is giving the girl a play-by-play of the last football game he was in. The only reason she has to listen to that dull conversation, according to Holden, is that she's not attractive.
On his other side is a very preppy, good-looking couple. To be exact, they are a "Joe Yale-looking-guy" and a "terrific looking girl with him." (By the way, Holden informs us, he wouldn't go to Yale or Princeton even if he was dying).
Also, he's feeling her up under the table while she protests and while he talks about this guy in his dorm that committed suicide.
As a better alternative to watching this display, Holden sends a message via the waiter asking Ernie to join him for a drink.
Just then a girl with a terrific body named Lillian Simmons greets Holden by name and comes over to this table. She used to date Holden's brother D.B., and now she's with a naval officer.
Lillian asks about D.B. and introduces her date. Holden remarks that nobody really likes this girl, even the guy that's dating her.
Holden resents having to say, "Glad you have met you" to the naval guy whom he isn't remotely glad to have met.
Then he has to leave; he tells Lillian he can't join her because he's meeting somebody else. "People are always ruining things for you," he says.

Chapter 13

Chapter 11