Salinger's Girl

I read a quote today from an obscure short story called "A Girl I Knew".  JD Salinger wrote the story and it was published years ago by a woman's magazine. The quote was beautiful and painted such a vivid picture of this woman with just a few short words.  It provoked me to scour the internet in hopes of finding it, which of course I did. 

The quote was this:

"She wasn't  doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together." 

Upon finding the story, I read it fast and greedily.  Then I read through it again slowly.  It is a beautiful short story written in his simple and effortless way.  Here is the link if you'd like to read it yourself.  A Girl I Knew

Another quote that moved me from that story was this:

"A man can’t go along indefinitely carrying around in his pocket a key that doesn’t fit anything."

I usually don't like short stories.  I prefer diving into characters and stories that don't let me come up for air for days.  But as one gets older, one's perspective changes.  I'm starting to appreciate short stories more now because they leave so much to the reader's imagination.  They sometimes ingrain themselves deeper into my mind than a novel can because of all that's unwritten.  All that's left unsaid is filled in by my own imagination, which makes the story more personal to me.  Makes me feel a part of it in some way.  I mean, I read this story this morning, and I still can't shake it.... 

God bless writers and poets and thinkers and feelers and artists.  They so enrich our lives.