Just got home from a Thanksgiving in Kentucky. Bitter cold but I loved it. We visited an abandoned Shaker Village, saw the Palisades and ate lots of carbs.
The most interesting event was when I found the letters. Tons of discarded letters dated from the 1920's. They were from a North Carolina girl named Madeline to a Kentucky boy named Byron. Both were in college at the time. Madeline's letters enchanted me and I brought them home. They seem so alien (in language use, references ect) and at the same time totally familiar. There was drama, which I love. She obviously liked him and was always asking him to write back to her, but only if he really, really wanted to. Madeline wrote one letter after Thanksgiving 1924 in which she bragged about a new coat, regretted saying something mean about a romantic rival in Kentucky and mourned a low grade on a chemistry test. How cliche!
I am only half way through the letters. I hope to read that they got engaged, but I suspect I won't. I think their relationships is one that died, not from a fiery plummet, but from the erosion of time and obligations. That is how it usually happens I guess. I am planning a short story with these characters.
P.S. On the drive back home (basically drive south for twelve hours) it seemed the temp. increased 5 degrees at every bathroom break.
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Where exactly did you find this treasure? Those letters sound like absolute gems.
ReplyDeleteAwesome!
In an old house's trash. It apeared the house had just been sold and the new owners were cleaning.
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