Then all of a sudden, something very spooky started happening.  Every time I  came to the end of a block and stepped off the goddam kerb, I had this feeling that I’d never get to the other side of the street.  I thought I’d just go down, down, down and nobody’d ever see me again.  Boy it did scare me… Every time I’d get to the end of a block I’d make believe I was talking to my brother Allie.  I’d say to him, ‘Allie, don’t let me disappear.  Allie, don’t let me disappear.  Allie, don’t let me disappear.  Please, Allie.’  And then when I’d reach the end of the street without disappearing, I’d THANK him. 

- J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the
Rye : 204