Out of the House on Tuesday Nights
Samson the Reader
People called him Sam, even though the Samson name carried some Bible cred in his town.
One autumn Sunday after church, Sam’s friend Turk mentioned a get together that afternoon at 5, at a nearby ranch. Turk promised plenty of beer.
When Sam arrived, a group of parents already carried on passionately about all the wrong books in school. They intended to follow the lead of other communities and lobby the School Board to ban these degenerative books.
Sam, asked the parents if they’d read the books. The general answer was “no”.
Sam continued, “Well I read The Catcher in the Rye in high school English. And many of you were in that class with me. I bet you read at least some of it, too. I remember the conversation being that you all felt that Holden represented you and your feelings. But now you want to ban it. Why?”
Alexis stood up to reply.
“You’re right, Sam. We all read that book together, and we found some…comfort in it. But looking back now, it is subversive. Anti-establishment. Vulgar language. Sex near bursting into the story. Too introspective. It’s not right for our kids to read now.”
“But you liked it. And you were not hurt by it,” Sam reminded Alexis.
