It had been ten years since I'd gotten kicked out of Pencey, I remember how I thought I could just run away to some ranch or get a job at a gas station or something stupid like that after high school. The older I got the more I came to realize that life isn't that easy, adult life that is. Anyways after a few years of turmoil I settled out in Los Angeles and got a job in a factory. My car crapped out on me earlier in the week so I was stuck taking the metro, I had just gotten off work and was waiting on the bus stop. I was reading the papers and having a smoke, minding my own business when this guy with a mouth full of braces tapped my shoulder. "Say, aren't you a little young to be smoking?" he asked. I snapped back at him quickly "Aren't you a little old to be wearing braces? Don't ever touch me again with them dirty little rat claws you goddam phony!" I rolled up my newspaper and was using it to point at him as I ranted, he was visibly shaken up and his eyes darted back to the road. At this point people were looking at me and some were trying to pretend that they didn't hear my scolding, but if some jerk came up to them asking such a stupid question they would've reacted the same. I'm just sitting here trying to smoke this cigarette I bought with the money I earned, where the hell does this son of a bitch get off thinking I'm "too young to smoke".
I was just staring at the printing on the papers now, not even reading it, all the news ever talked about was the bad aspects of life anyways. The news was full of depressing stories about high tech American jets dropping bombs on communists in some third-world country. As I had all that in my mind some guy in a fancy looking Cadillac slowly pulled up to the bus lane, it was weird as hell. I kept my eye on him as he drove down the street and parked in front of a pawn shop, he got out of the car and started walking towards me. He was tall and was wearing a very formal business suit. I couldn't recognize who the guy was because of the shades he was wearing, but he looked very familiar. As he got closer to me a big stupid looking grin came across his face, he took off his shades and I immediately knew who it was. "Stradlater?" I said in a dumbfounded voice. "Holden Caufield, I almost didn't recognize you without that damn hunting hat you always wore."
We greeted each other and struck up a conversation reminiscing about old times back at Pencey. After a while of revisiting old memories he even invited me over to his house for dinner, to which I agreed to. I got in that fancy Cadillac of his and we were on our way to his place. "So Holden" he said "What did you end up doing after you got kicked out of Pencey, and how the hell did you even end up in LA?". I responded "After my parents found out I'd gotten kicked out of Pencey they sent me to this psychoanalyst and home-schooled me for my senior year. The year went by pretty quickly and before I knew it I'd finished high school, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with my life after that so my dad all but forced me to join the Army. After basic I was sent off to fight the war in Korea for a whole goddamn year, it was the worst year of my life. The winter temperatures were 20 degrees below zero and a lot of good men died only for the war to end in a stalemate. I didn't want to go back home after the war was over because I was still mad that my parents forced me into the Army, so I stayed here and got a job at a steel factory in South Gate.". "How's that job treating you?" Stradlater asked. "It pays well, I don't get much sleep at night so I usually stay there pretty late working overtime.". I asked him what he's been up to after all these years, he told me about how he'd graduated Pencey with flying colors and got accepted into some preppy university and got this high paying unionized job with pension and benefits. I kinda zoned out in the middle of his life's story, I was listening to the music coming from the radio. They were playing a song called Mack the Knife, is was this big band music that sounded like something my parents would've listened to.
Before I knew it we were in the middle of the suburbs, old Stradlater must've really made it in life to be able to afford to live around here. I was actually kinda jealous at how nice the houses in this area were and how nice the area was in general, I scoped the place out and there was not piece of trash around. After all I lived in this crappy old apartment in the inner city, really anything was better than living in that part of town. It was always crowded with the rush of the city and the smell of gas coming from the cars never went away. We drove into the driveway of Stradlater's house and parked outside of his garage, I got off and followed him to the front door. "Did I tell you about my wife, Holden?" Stradlater asked as he was unlocking the door. "You got married!?" I asked in a shocked tone. "Sure did, I think you've already met the girl actually." When we walked through the door I hung my coat up on the coat rack and heard his wife greeting him with a kiss, I looked over at her and I couldn't believe my eyes.
It was old Jane Gallagher, suddenly it felt like someone punched me in the stomach and knocked the wind out of me. "Look who I found while I was on my way home from work today." Stradlater happily told his wife. "Holden Caufield, Christ I haven't seen you in years!" she said as she greeted me with a hug. I couldn't even respond to what she was saying, I had to catch my breath and get this sickening feeling out of my system before I could say anything. "Hey I'm glad you could have me over and show me your house Stradlater but I really gotta be on my way." I nervously said. "But you just got here, don't you want to stay for dinner?" Stradlater asked, oblivious of the pain he just put me through. I made up some bullshit excuse about how I have to be at work early tomorrow and I could really use all the rest I could get. They tried to get me to stay for a drink at least but I just wanted to get the hell out of there, Stradlater gave me his number so we could go out for a drink sometime but I never wanted to see that bastard's face again.
As I wandered through the maze of the suburbs I thought back to when Jane and I used to be real close, and about my days back at Pencey. I wish I would've done things differently in the past and not been such a damn fool, had I not gotten kicked out of Pencey I could've graduated high school with Jane. If I did better in school then I wouldn't have had to join the Army because I would've known what I wanted to do with my life. I just wish I could go back to my teenage self and tell myself how awful life would be if I didn't get my act together. Then maybe I could've opened my eyes and made something of myself, instead of living this dead end life that I'm stuck in right now.