The Parents

Winchester Academy and Reformatory Scholarship Application
Filed By: Amy Caulfield
Applicant: Holden Caulfield
Relation to Applicant: Mother

My Holden has attended many fine schools in an attempt to find the right one for him, the latest being Pencey Prep. He was expelled from Pency because he failed four of his five classes. Instead of coming straight home though, he decided it would be best to roam New York without supervision, neglecting to tell us where he was. When we received the letter of expulsion, my husband was filled with rage, but I was filled with worry. You see, we've all been on edge since our other son died of leukemia. Thankfully, our daughter Phoebe had secretly met with Holden during school one day, and when her teacher contacted us, we knew she must be with him.

Before the secret meeting, we had no idea what Holden had been doing, but when he came home, we were able to get the details. He was able to find housing well enough -- hotels and friends houses -- and because of his height, he was able to buy enough beer to be drunk for a week on. In fact that's exactly what he did. A mixture of beer and the insanity that had built since his brother's death was released then and when we found him, he was completely delusional.

Holden suffered a complete nervous breakdown, at least that's what those doctors that we had to pay for with an arm and a leg told me. The stress that was ever present in his life had finally gotten too great and his mind just shut down. We just can't trust him anymore, but we don't want to be the cause of another breakdown. When we heard about your school, we knew that God above had given us another chance to raise our boy to be a fine young gentleman.