Ackley and Stradlater's High School Reunion
Disclaimer: No, I am not J.D Salinger. He's a gifted man, and I would never claim to be him.
Pairings: Mentions of Jane/Stradlater and Jane/Holden, but nothing too extravagent. I couldn't destroy this book with phony romance (:
AN: Yeah, yeah. I love The Catcher In The Rye so I decided to experiment with it, ten years later. It's featuring Stradlater and Ackley, because I can right them better than Holden. Yeah, so enjoy!
Agerstown, Pennsylvania was nothing special. It was a small town with very limited sources of entertainment, usually you had to leave town just to get some type of form of entertainment. The town was always victim to some cheesy design, and the town leaders were like those that you watch in some chick flick. They were all the stereotypical narrow-minded small town citizens with big hearts. It was a bit strange, but the people who lived here wouldn't have it any other way. The townsfolk were proud of their town. Even though it was no New York City, they had enough work to keep themselves occupied.
It was a cold winter evening; the snow was creating a white blanket that seemed to overtake the town. The children were finishing the changes they made on their snowmen in a rush, as their mothers called them for dinner. Men were walking home with each other, wearing the earmuffs that their wives or mothers had most likely forced them to wear. Everyone seemed so happy, as the bright Christmas lights reflected off the snow, making the town look like a Hallmark Card. The town looked like something Stradlater should ask to get wrapped up, and give it to his wife as a Christmas present. There were so many things that could have gone through Stradlater's mind right now, but the only thing he could think was Holden Caulfield would have vomited because of all phoniness.
Stradlater didn't think of Holden often. It wasn't that he hated him or anything; it was just that he didn't care. He had been Holden's roommate for less than a year before Holden had been kicked out of Pencey. After Christmas break, Stradlater had gotten a new roommate, and had forgotten all about Caulfield. It had been ten years since Stradlater had last seen Holden, and it was time for Stradlater's class reunion. The thoughts of high school came up repeatedly, and with the memories came Holden. He continued on his walk through Agerstown until he came towards the Pencey gates. When he entered the campus, Stradlater smiled to himself; it was still the same old Pencey. The school hadn't changed at all over the past ten years; the gym door still had that crack in it due to the archery team's victory shot. As Stradlater opened the door, he took a breath. This was it, and he was going to see everyone who had played a part in his life for those four drama filled years. The door creaked open, and Stradlater saw the room which seemed to be overflowing with people. Stradlater saw someone he recognized, Robert Ackley. Robert hadn't changed much since Pencey, as far as looks went; his acne was more under control, but still visible. Ackley had hated Stradlater in High School, but Stradlater figured he'd grown up and they could joke about it, so he tapped Ackley on the shoulder, and said, "Ackley kid."
The other man barely acknowledged Stradlater as he was pouring himself a cup of punch, but frowned, and asked annoyed, "Whaddaya want? Can't you see I'm trying to drink my punch?"
Stradlater smiled at the other man, "You finally decided to take a shower, good move. I'm sure the ladies like you a lot more."
"And you finally decided to put a shirt on." Ackley shot back, as he drank his punch. He had never much liked Stradlater, and he couldn't understand why they were conversing. He actually didn't understand why he was at the Pencey Reunion. Ackley had decided once he got out of Pencey, he'd never see any of these jerks again. However in a moment of weakness Ackley had checked the yes box on his invitation, and here he was against his better judgment.
"Well my wife had a problem with me walking around without a shirt on all the time, so I had to wear one." Stradlater explained humorously, although he was being one hundred percent honest.
Ackley nearly choked on his punch at the mention of Stradlater having a wife, "What kind of girl agreed to marry a crazy bastard like you?"
"I don't know if you know her. I went with her a few times senior year. She never gave me the time, so I moved to the next girl. Her name's Jane Gallagher." Stradlater said proudly.
Ackley laughed, as he realized who Stradlater was talking about. He remembered the night when Holden left, and what led up to it, and asked, "That girl you and Holden got into a fight over?"
"Yeah," Stradlater frowned; part of the reason that he had been so attracted to Jane was that someone else wanted her. There was competition, and more than anything he loved a good game. Stradlater remembered the whole fight perfectly, "The one Holden and I got in a fight over."
Ackley laughed, now knowing he had something against Stradlater, and said, "You wrecked that kid, you did."
"What do you mean?" Stradlater inquired scowling, "I never saw him again."
"After that whole incident he went insane, he hung out with a pimp one night, and the next morning talked to nuns. Then he decided to run away with Sally Hayes, but when she said no, he went crazy on her. Then he decided to run away again, but his sister stopped him." Ackley explained.
"How did you find out all that?" Stradlater demanded curiously.
"From Holden." Ackley explicated, "He wrote me a damn long letter…"
"So what? That doesn't mean he's insane because he wanted to run away, hung out with a pimp, and talked to nuns. If anything proves he's crazy it'd be writing you a letter." Stradlater interrupted.
"From a nuthouse." Ackley concluded his previous sentence.
"What did you say?" Stradlater stipulated in a cold voice.
"He ended up in a nuthouse. After you hit him, he started going insane. Then he finally got out of control so his parents had to send him to the Nuthouse while you went to Yale." Ackley explained.
Stradlater glared at Ackley, "His parents might have just gotten paranoid. It happens."
"Yeah, because you're an expert in psychology." Ackley rolled his eyes.
"I took a Freudian psych course at Yale, thank you very much." Stradlater snapped.
"After he got discharged, he was okay for a couple years, but then he started thinking his dead brother was talking to him, and eventually it built on that, and the police sent him back to the institution." Ackley ignored Stradlater.
Stradlater sighed, was it possible that one mistake he'd made had ruined a kid's life? He couldn't bare the idea, so he said nothing at all, hoping Robert wouldn't continue the conversation. Suddenly Ackley asked, "When did you and Jane get married?"
Stradlater grinned relieved at the subject change, "About two years ago."
"Strange." Ackley concluded, "Very strange."
"Why?" Stradlater asked, he had no idea where Ackley was going, but he knew he didn't like it.
"That was the last time Holden got checked into the loony bin." Ackley said quietly.
"You're making this up." Stradlater decided, the coincidence was overwhelming to him. It just wasn't possible. Ackley must be messing with him.
Ackley shook his head, "Honestly. It was the last time I heard from Holden, and he was in a mental ward."
Stradlater excused himself from the conversation, and left the school, promising to return after one of his old buddies saw him leaving. He just had to find a payphone and see if Ackley was lying. He didn't want to have to deal with the idea that all of Holden's suffering could be his fault. He finally found a pay phone nearby the school, and placed in his change, and dialed. When the operator picked up Stradlater asked for Caulfield, New York, and the operator promised to connect him. Finally he heard the rings, and then a feminine voice picked up the phone, "Hello?"
Stradlater didn't know what to say, but suddenly remembered why he was calling, and said, "Hello, can I talk to Holden please?"
The other line went quiet. There was not a sound, except the woman's suddenly heavy struggling breaths. The girl's breaths he thought must be the most painful thing that anyone had ever gone through based on the other side's fight to maintain breathing. Stradlater knew she was still there and waited for her to say something. Finally as the girl caught her breath she said quietly, "I guess you haven't heard from him in a long time."
"Ten years to be exact." Stradlater nodded into the phone.
"Can I ask your name?" The woman questioned.
"Ward Stradlater, Holden and I roomed at Pencey." He explained.
The woman paused on the other side of the phone, and then said quietly, "I'm very sorry, Mr. Stradlater. We lost my brother two years ago. He'd been battling depression for nearly ten years, and nothing was working. Whenever we tried to get him help, he'd always run away from the hospital. Two years ago we were talking to a doctor about a new type of treatment; it was surgical. It was called a lobatomy, they cut out the part of the brain that's causing the depression. It was new, and they were still experimenting with it. We decided to take the risk, because it'd had success stories, and we just wanted Holden back to the way he was. Unfortunately the surgery went awry, and they cut out the wrong part of the brain."
Stradlater asked gently, "What does that mean?"
"It means that he's in a vegetable form, he's still alive, but his brain doesn't work so he might as well be dead." The young woman explained.
"I'm very sorry for your loss," Stradlater said sincerely, and hung up the phone, cursing the one time Ackley had ever been right about anything.
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