By 18th Waver, Randy Hogan Kim

 Randy Hogan Kim

“The Catcher in the Rye” Adaptation – Anecdote at Elkton Hills

                  I was sitting in the chair in my door when suddenly I realized how sore things would go.  I mean, this isn’t my first time leaving school and I’m sure that my parents would be mad as hell.  What’s worse is that I need to go to another new prep school where everything and everyone is phony.  God, it’s hard to know if you’re becoming phony, too, once you start living with a bunch of phony people.  You know, if you’re the only one who’s not phony, and all these roommates act phony as hell, you either get crazy and jump out the window, or become phony so you could live.  I know some kids who got crazy.  They were good friends.

                  Anyways, the weather was great.  Sure, Elkton Hills is a fine place, just that the school is bad.  Especially, Mr. Haas, he’s phony as hell, for god’s sake.  Once, he suspended me for whatever reason he talked about.  It was good to stay in the dorm all day for a few days, sure, but I hated that I was all alone and everything.  I wasn’t flunking class or anything and I didn’t like being in the classroom, so I really didn’t like being in the dorm.  Especially, on a day like this, staying in dorm is goddamn bad.  The old windows that look as if they were built in the Civil War don’t even block the sun or heat.  They just come right into the room as if the glass windows are not there.  I couldn’t use to stand that, but for today, I felt swell.

                  I finally got up, just because I didn’t feel like sitting anymore, and walked out to the hallway.  You’ll know if you’re besides me, but this hallway is long.  And there are dozens of doors facing each other.  If you pass by each door, you could hear all the things going inside.  All of them.  That killed me.

                  I was walking just for the sake of it.  In fact, I didn’t even know where I was heading.  I just walked around the school, imagining all the phony people inside the building, watching me through the windows.  It’s funny how most people don’t realize that I am watching at them through the window.  I knew that.  Somewhere, among the windows, there is somebody who is watching you.  It’s kinda creepy.  But I didn’t really care.  So I just walked and walked.

                  I was at the English department when I realized I was getting closer to the bus stop.  There was Mr. Antolini in the building, and he was the only person I was sure who wasn’t phony.  He even wasn’t phony in front of Mr. Haas.  That’s why Mr. Haas hates him like hell and always wants to get rid of him.  But Mr. Antolini is a goddamn good teacher, you know, and nobody who takes his class hates him.  That’s why I like him.  Just before trying to knock on the door, I suddenly felt sore.  For chrissake, I thought I was going to throw up.  I don’t know why, but I walked outside, passing by the no-running sign.

                  The trees and sky looked all fine.  They all were there for whatever reason they’re there for.  And they were graceful as hell.  I really didn’t want to leave.  I mean, I hate Mr. Haas especially that face when he told me that I should leave school and everything, but other than that, the place, Elkton Hills (not the school), was goddamn pretty.

                  I put on my red hunting hat and headed for the bus stop.  Maybe I should go meet Jane in the way to New York.  I waited for the bus.  It took pretty long until it arrived.  Pretty long.  Long as hell.  In fact, I don’t even remember seeing the bus come.  I almost felt as if I was waiting forever, then fly to New York in a second.  That made me sore.