For Seymour Glass- Where Ever You May Be

My Favorite living author in the world- J. D. Salinger, has died this afternoon, at the ripe old age of 91. I am too gutted to write an obit- a beautiful one is here- and I have been working for months on a piece about Bananafish.. but I wanted to share my most favorite piece by J. D. Salinger with my readers, in hope they will like it too.

I always identified with Seymour Glass, maybe too much so.

From "Raise High The Roofbeam, Carpenters,":

"I have scars on my hands from touching certain people. Once, in the park, when Franny was still in the carriage, I put my hand on the downy pate of her head and left it there too long. Another time, at Loew's Seventy-Second Street, with Zooey during a spooky movie. He was about six or seven, and he went under the seat to avoid watching a scary scene. I put my hand on his head. Certain heads, certain colors and textures of human hair leave permanent marks on me. Other things, too. Charlotte once ran away from me, outside the studio, and I grabbed her dress to stop her, to keep her near me. A yellow cotton dress which I loved because it was too long for her. I still have a lemon-yellow mark on the palm of my right hand. Oh, God, if I'm anything by a clinical name, I'm kind of paranoiac in reverse. I suspect people of plotting to make me happy."