The problem with being a celebrity is that if you throw something in the trash, there’s no guarantee that it stays there. Even leftover spaghetti can find its way to eBay and give its finder some extra cash when sold. Apparently writers aren’t exempt, even dead ones. Especially dead ones.
And especially J.D. Salinger. His toilet is for sale on eBay for only a million dollars. An excerpt from the description reads:
This vintage toilet is from 1962 and is dated under the lid. It will come to you uncleaned and in it’s [sic] original condition when it was removed from Salinger’s old home!
Apparently that’s a selling point. The writer of the auction also asks a rhetorical question, wondering how many of Salinger’s works were penned while he was on the throne. And before you put on your tinfoil hat, the toilet comes with a letter from the current owner of the house, who installed a new toilet after Salinger died. The toilet auction brings up more questions than it answers, though. Did she save the letter just for the owner of the toilet? Did she write a letter for the new owner of every item being replaced? (And if she did, wow. This woman has patience.) What makes the toilet so important? And finally, I must descend to lowbrow humor and ask what everyone’s wondering: did he flush?