BEGINNING
This is not your usual letter. First, I guess because you
never get letters from me, so any letter is unusual. It’s hard to know where to
begin a letter to a person you’ve never written to especially when it’s someone
you see about five times a week and don’t really talk to that much. I suppose
the proper place to begin is with a Greeting.
“Dear Miss Hansell…” oops, that sounds pretty serious. How
about, “Hey Tina! Yo-baby, what’s hap’n?” Well, that’s a little more what you’d
expect, so I’ll leave it. No need to get too involved in the greeting ‘cause
pretty soon I’ll have to put this pencil down and go to Bible Study. Then this
will be obsolete because I will have seen you and perhaps even have said “Hi.”
Well, it’s time to go and I still haven’t said anything. At
least when I pick this back up I won’t have to struggle with a greeting.
(Later)
Well, I’m back. I kind of looked forward to getting back, so
I could take up our little conversation. This is a perfect way for me to
converse because I can do all the talking and you can’t say anything back.
Well, that’s not all that great. It’d be nice to actually have the other person
talk to you also.
Does it seem strange that I should write to you? I feel a
little like I’m trying to get away with something. Really, I’d like to be able
to call you and talk or whatever, but I’d feel REALLY STRANGE.
The truth is that I think you are a very Nice and
Interesting Person and it would be fun to be Friends. Not that we are presently
enemies or anything. Like am I making any sense? Maybe I’m just babbling and
you are just nodding your head and saying, “Yep. He’s flipped. Wait ‘til I tell
My Dad and Rob and All the Counselors.”
Well, I guess you could do that. I could probably use a
rebuke for one thing or another. However, I really don’t mean any harm and you
wouldn’t want to crush your little Pen Pal without even returning his letter.
(would you?)
Summing up what I’ve said in all this so far:
I.
Hello
II.
I am writing you a letter
A. I
feel somewhat strange about this
III.
Let’s be friends
IV.
Please answer this letter
(continued)
MIDDLE
So, since we’re going to be friends (see how bold I am when
absent…) let’s begin with a few questions:
I.
How are you?
II.
What’s it like having Bob for a Father?
III.
Are(n’t) you glad you Moved to California?
IV.
What makes you tick?
V.
Do you think I’m prying and should I BACK OFF BEFORE
YOU BELT ME IN THE MOUTH?
It’s getting time for beddy-bye so I’ll be signing off. Over
and out.
(The Next Day)
Hey, how interesting…I am at work right now, and it is lunch
time—this job is very Kick Back. I sit in front of a Computer all day and wait
for the phone to ring. It has been Dead, and so I have nothing to do at all, but
even if I did, I can always hide inside my cubicle and take a break.
Fascinating, I’m sure.
The people here are also Very Kick Back. There is never any
pressure except from The Customer. There are 3 people in the office with me, a
Receptionist named Kay (who talks and acts exactly like Gloria—Wacky). Jeannie,
who does Purchasing/Order desk is an ex-machine shop worker with a very blunt
disposition and a vocabulary like a Truck Driver, but not as mean.
Karen is the manager-to-be. She scares me because she’s the
only one who knows how to run the place and she’s been here only a month. She’s
a Trekkie (Star Trek Fanatic) and an oldies freak. Prior to her coming, we
worked in silence, now we listen to K-ODJ All Day Long.
The Dress Code is Very Casual—Jeans, T-Shirt, Sneakers. Many
are the days I do not even shave—or shower—for weeks! (Kidding, of course).
I haven’t mentioned lunch—Burgers, Fries and Coke usually,
from across the street (or sometimes “the Teriyaki Special.” We won’t go into that). Well, lunch is over.
Today I have had no lunch because I really wasn’t In The Mood. Gotta go
now—bye.
(Later The Next Day)
Getting toward the end of the working day, and I’ve got a
little bit of time to kill. I’ve looked over this letter, and I don’t reckon
I’ve said a whole lot.
(there’s more)
BEGINNING/END
The main thing I really wanted was just to communicate with
you –even if it is about the Ho-Hum things of everyday life. There never seems
to be a Right and/or Appropriate Time to talk to you, but after our little 2AM
conversation I realized that I really would like to be able to talk to you.
It’s just the Appearance of Things and What People Would Think.
So I have written and Part of Me says to throw this away or
keep it in my “Letters to Never Send” file. I don’t know why, probably afraid
you’ll think the wrong things, or you’ll read my letter out loud to a roomful of
people, or I’ll get rebuked for doing something Inappropriate. So if you get
this letter, it will be this short, or else if I chicken out, I’ll probably add to
it and make it even more unsendable.
So Long for Now
Brother Andy
PS. I really hope I give this to you tonight but my nerves
are making my finger muscles paralyzed and they probably will not release the
envelope when I try. Oh, well, here’s to hoping.
(Later Still)
PPS. So, I’m a coward. I think I’ll do something IRREVOCABLE
like mail it. Then if I can get it in the mailbox it will be out of my hands.
Why’s this such a big deal anyway, gosh. This is a stupid letter anyway. You’ll
probably think I’m stupid(er than you already do). I am disgusted w/myself of
late, in fact I’m not speaking to me anymore. Hey, really meant to give it to
you but had second, third and fourth thoughts and still am. Like what am I
supposed to do just hand it to you? I’d feel to strange but to heck with all
this you're probably fast forwarding this part anyway.
Ok, so let's Review again.
I.
Hello
II.
I am sending you a letter
A. I feel
somewhat strange etc.
III.
Let’s be friends
IV.
Please answer this letter
V.
Various questions
VI.
My day at work
VII.
I’d really like to send this letter but…
(over) (and over and over…)
END END
Tina, now don’t get me wrong. I really am making too big a
fuss about this. Let me say again my purpose for even sitting down to write
this is because after the other night outside your house and other times of
just joking around, I’ve felt like I wished you and I were better friends.
But as you can see how awkward it is to even write to you,
how much more difficult to you if Everybody’s around or if Everybody’s not around.
Either way just seems like people would think it’s wrong. So, I don’t or I
haven’t or it’s been a real quick Hi/Bye and nothing where I could say “hey, I
know Tina. Tina’s a good friend of mine.”
I guess I just am needing a friend and thinking maybe you
can use one, too. Anyway, the times that I’ve talked w/you I’ve enjoyed—though
they haven’t been many. Anyway, so to approach the whole thing I thought to
write is less of an awkward thing and I can pick and choose the time. You don’t
even have to be there. So I wrote you a letter. So sue me!
Maybe you might want
to write me back, maybe you might want to say, “This is a stupid idea, drop
dead. I hate you.” But either way, I wanted to try and reach out just a little
beyond this shell of a person you see five days a week but hardly Really Know.
So I tried, so sue me!
I really didn’t want to make such a big fuss over it but I just started getting PARANOID,
thinking—oh, oh. Here I am sending you something maybe you’ll be uncomfortable,
maybe you’ll misunderstand or whatever. You are a girl, that is enough to make
me PARANOID already.
So, if you haven’t already made up your mind to report me to
the Humane Society or the S.P.C.A. or the FBI, the KGB or the ERA then please
write me a little note (not necessarily some BEAST like this one). And we can
commence to being a little bit better friends than we are right now. That’s if
I ever give you this…
Once again yours,
Brother Andy
PS. Never Mind.
(After Sunday Night)
Hey There! Maybe I didn’t need to write to you after all.
For the past couple of days we’ve gotten to spend some Nice times either
talking or eating or doing both simultaneously. It has been a lot of fun for me
and I didn’t feel at all STRANGE. I enjoy the stories you and your Dad tell,
however, he definitely has you beat when it comes to those gut-wrenching
stories from the past.
Anyway, the pie, the pudding, the Jello, the ice-cream and
Pop Tarts were all very Nice and made me feel for a tiny bit like we were Old
Friends. Although in Bible Study, of course we are all family and friends,
sometimes it winds up that you never get as much time w/certain people and you
wind up feeling distant. With you, it was like I never really knew you until
recently.
Anyway, I’m enjoying this whole thing of becoming Real
friends, if you are. So why am I still writing and not telling you this? Well,
I’ve gotten used to it over the last couple of days, I guess. I write a few
lines here and a few there and it’s like I’ve got you Right There listening. Of
course, it isn’t you; it’s a pencil and a piece of paper.
But if it ever comes about that I give you this letter it
will be like one long conversation (one in which I talk on and on endlessly
and you never get a chance to speak). So, I think I will limit this thing to
writing only if something earthshaking happens. I just had to write this time,
though, because I had to tell you how much I enjoyed these last couple of days.
Anyway, I’m just a fool if I think I’m ever going to give
you a letter as goofy and sentimental sounding as this one. Goodnight!
