Invisible Gifts

After dinner Mrs. Fedder suggested we listen to the program. Her enthusiasm, her nostalgia for the program, especially the old days when buddy and I were on it, makes me uneasy. Tonight it was broadcast from some naval airbase, of all places, near San Diego. Much too many pedantic questions and answers. Franny sounded as though she had a head cold. Zooey was in dreamy top form. The announcer had them off on the subject of housing developments, and the little Burke girl said she hated houses that all look alike - meaning a long row of identical 'development' houses. Zooey said they were 'nice.' He said it would be very nice to come home and be in the wrong house. To eat dinner with the wrong people by mistake, sleep in the wrong bed by mistake, and kiss everybody goodbye in the morning thinking they were your own family. He said he even wished everybody in the world looked exactly alike. He said you'd keep thinking everybody was your wife or your mother or father, and people would always be throwing their arms around each other wherever they went, and it would look 'very nice.'

++J.D. Salinger / Raise High The Roof Beam, Carpenters++