To Catch Them in the Rye

There were chickens in the background. I could hear a rooster crowing.
"Hello?... Who is this?"
It was sushi boy.
"Hi..."
"Oh, wow, How are you doing? I thought we weren't talking any more?"
"I'm in Mexico."
Now the chickens and roosters made sense. He sure was in Mexico. Rural-as-hell, Mexico.
"You're calling me from Mexico? Why are you there?"
"My Mom got sick."
"Oh my god, is she okay?" I suddenly remembered little details about him. I remembered the awkward way he darted his eyes away from me when I looked at him. I remembered the way he flinched when I picked a leaf off of his shoulder. And I remembered he had told me he was the ninth of fifteen children, all born to his same father and mother.
"She's okay," he said. "I think she just wanted to see me."
I laughed, and a rooster crowed again in the background.
"Well how are you supposed to get back?" He didn't respond right away, and I remembered his limited English. "How can you come back? It must be difficult to go there, and back, from here."
"No. I flew. Its not hard."
"Oh..." I smiled, "You have a visa. I forgot!"
"Maybe I'll see you in... one month?"
"I thought we weren't going to see each other any more."
"So what are you doing? Are you working now?" Clearly he didn't understand me. Or maybe he had selective hearing.
"Yes. I'm working. Are you sure you're okay down there? How's your family?"
"I'm okay. Well, everybody here--"
And the line went dead. I knew what it was. It had this little click to it, and I knew it meant his minutes had run out. I put down my phone and stared at the weird looking number flashing on the screen.

"Do you like kids?"
He had asked me, halfway through his taquitos, three months prior.
"Yes. I think I woud like kids. After I'm married, you know."
"You should have one." He grinned sheepishly, like he was embarassed, and looked down at his plate.
"Oh," I said, one eyebrow cocked. "So you mean I should have one with you."
He grinned wider, his eyes flickering up at me, and nodded.

He seemed so pure, so innocent, with such a simple outlook on the world. Thats how I had seen Daniel long ago. It was the same innocence that made me think I could shake all the things I didn't like about myself. Sushi-boy and Daniel didn't see the same grit, the same heartbreak to the reality of life. They weren't hardened, they were open and soft and maleable. Easily broken, I thought. And with them I felt so much like Holden Caufield, wanting so badly, with such intensity, to Catch them in the Rye. To save them.

And I still don't know what that is. I mean, I'd probably call it a waste of my time, now. But living the fantasy, while its happening, living that simple love-filled life, is just so sweet. God, I think I'm going to cry.