Then I started reading this timetable I had in my pocket. Just to stop lying. Once I get started, I can go on for hours if I feel like it. No kidding. Hours.
– J. D. Salinger
The Catcher in the Rye. Chapter 8. Holden tells an elaborate series of fantastic lies to the mother of his classmate Ernest Morrow on the train. It’s not clear why he does this, perhaps another case of him trying to escape from reality.