Last night I was rereading Catcher in the Rye and I find that Holden has a slight preoccupation with death; his own and those around him. He is always thinking about his dead brother Allie, and when Holden is drunk he pretends that he has been shot in the stomach and he has to hold his innards in.



Somewhere in reading that my mind drifted out and thought about one of my friends dying. It hasn't happened, but I started thinking about what I would do if it did. How many days would I take off work? I don't think I would even bother finishing the term, but then maybe I would throw myself into my work. How would the deceased's school life and the deceased's family life come together? It would be a weird mix. One group would know so much about the past and the other about the present. Would I say something at the funeral? Probably. It would be something nice with some humour thrown in to cover the pain that everyone would be feeling. I would be pallbearer. I would hold the casket high while wearing an expensive black suit. I would be the strong one.