Lunchtime read: For Esme with Love and Squalor and other stories

Before I get into commenting on the story today I wanted to mention that like most other people reading these stories without too much knowledge about the author you do assume that the members of the Glass family are based on Salinger's own family. But they are not and the discovery that this is one of the classic fictional family creations is something that adds to the respect for the author's imagination.

Just Before the War with the Eskimos

* Two friends, Selina and Ginnie, are coming back from playing tennis and have an argument over money with Ginnie pointing out that she always has to pay the fare and so demands some money from her friend

* Selina storms into her apartment and tells Ginnie that sshe will have to wait while she gets the money from her mother

* As Ginnie waits she is interrupted first by Selina's brother and then by one of his friends who both bowl her over with their observations on life and enthusiasm for being cycnical

* Selina returns with the money but Ginnie tells her to keep it because in a away you feel that she has enjoyed herself and learnt more than a couple of dollars worth of entertainment and knowledge

More tomorrow...