Phony

Once upon a time

(last year)

my best friend lent me a book called-

(It was The Catcher In The Rye)

-The Catcher In the Rye.

I had been meaning to read the book for years

(ages, really)

but had just never gotten around to it.

(Anyway)

It is now one of my very favorite books. Holden Caulfield is my man.

(Which I've never really understood, because, honestly, if I ran around getting kicked out of school and wasting my daddy's money on alcohol and hookers that I didn't even use, well it wouldn't be considered very charming would it? And yet Holden, this fictional character, does all that and more and people fall for him every time. Humanity gets stranger every day...)

I love him anyway. Back to the subject at hand. I think I fell in love with the cover of the book long before I fell in love with Holden. The copy of the book I was lent was an edition I had never seen before. The cover was completely white with nothing on it but the title of the book and Salinger's name. But in the upper lefthand corner a small rainbow crossed the corner diagonally. It was odd and intriguing, minimalist yet colourful and I adored it.

(Don't judge a book by its cover.)

Yes, in this case I am guilty of just that, I fear.

(Always a victim of the advertising world...)

Shut up.

( :P )

Mature. Anyway. Eventually, like all borrowed books, this one had to be returned to its rightful owner.

(A concept that renders us not particularly fond of libraries.)

Which broke my heart. You don't understand. I loved this book. Besides its wonderful cover and strangely enchanting contents, it had even more appealing aspects. The once pure white cover had been marked with rings from a coffee cup or two being placed on its face and the pages were tan with time and wear. In a few years I wouldn't be surprised to come across this very book, bound with scotch tape and its page 82 fluttering out of its spine.

("Fluttering out of its spine?" What a strange concept...)

I wasn't pleased with the thought of owning a new copy of the book, but knew I couldn't possibly go on without it in my life. I set out on a search to find the same edition as the one I had read, but was unable to find it anywhere. I was told once that that had been the 1951 edition and probably wasn't printed anymore.

(She despaired.)

I despaired. Once in a fit of frustration I told a dear friend of mine about my book plight. This was a month or so ago.

(So ago...so ago...so ago...it rhymes.)

Then, yesterday I was at church when the aforementioned dear friend walked up to me and said "I have a present for you."

(I love presents!)

Out of her bag she pulled a book. A book that looked like it had come straight from a used bookstore in 1951 with its tanned and worn pages and crinkled edges. A white book with nothing on the cover but...

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE

JD SALINGER

and a little rainbow in the upper lefthand corner.

(Thank you. You don't know how much it really means to her.)