Goodbye J.D. Salinger

The Catcher in the Rye - Chapter 22

"You know that song 'If a body catch a body comin' through the
rye'? I'd like-"
"It's 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye'!" old Phoebe
said. "It's a poem by Robert Burns."
"I know it's a poem by Robert Burns."
She was right though. It is 'If a body meet a body coming through the rye.'
I didn't know it then though. "I thought it was 'If a body catch a body' I
said."
"Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around - nobody big, I mean - except me. and I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they're running and they don't look where they're going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day, I'd be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy"


Probably the most dog-eared book I have. The copy is worn and faded like a favorite wallet. This book was the first piece of real literature that I loved. I connected with it. Something about it clicked, and my world was not the same after. When I heard of Salinger's passing earlier this week, my first reaction was 'I did not know he was still alive'. Then a sigh ran through me and gave me a chill - like I had just heard of the passing of a old friend that you lost touch with. The kind of reaction that makes you want to pull out the old photo albums and look at old pictures. Except this time it is not an album. It is a dog-eared paperback with their name on the cover. Goodbye J.D. Salinger. Thank you for being my catcher in the rye.