Thursday, July 26, 2012

Write On Edge: Longhand Challenge

Red Writing Hood gives us 500 words this week to explore a written letter.

I have a poor history of writing letters, much to my mother's consternation. She raised me better than that, I assure you. The only time I wrote faithfully was when my buddy signed up for the U.S. Marines. I stopped writing letters after his death in Afghanistan. Truth is, letter writing is very emotional and extremely personal, and the one person I believed I could write letters for, died before I could send the last one.

I may never recover. The last letter I wrote still haunts me.

There's another letter that haunts me, but for a completely different reason. Sullivan Ballou penned the most beautiful words to his wife. His story and that letter I heard for the first time in September of 1990. To this date, I have yet to come across anything that has affected me so deeply. "Sara, my love for you is deathless..." Sullivan wrote on July 14, 1861. He died a week later, on July 29, 1861, from wounds received in the Battle of Bull Run.

Please follow the link and read the letter. It will impact your life.

So, forgive me for being emotional. I wanted you to know, dear readers, what this prompt conjures up for me.


I offer the following in response: The Last Postcard
 

“Tara, I’ve some bad news about Uncle Jim,” Momma had tears in her eyes.

I knew what was coming next. My heart was going to break. Uncle Jim was an easy man to love, though most found him a hard man to like, especially when he drank. He wasn’t always a drunk. Apparently, there was a time before the bottle when he was the pride of the family.

There was no need for her to say anything additional, but she continued, “He died, two weeks ago. He was trying to save a family from a burning building…”

Momma said once Grandfather believed Jim was the only son-in-law worthy of the title until Aunt Jolene and Cousin Grace perished in an apartment fire. Momma watched it happen on the news channel. Jim had to hear about it from his commanding officer while they were in Grenada. Momma said that he was never right after that. He slipped into a bottle before I was born and then after my third birthday, he simply disappeared. I was the only family he spoke to after that.

He’d send me a random postcard, or he called when I was the only one home. I remembered the last conversation we had, about my dreams to attend an old world university, but there was no way we could ever afford the opportunity. We lived in Wilcox Springs, population 530, jobs 14. My uncle Jim may have been running from the pain of his past and this forsaken town, but it might’ve been the best thing he ever did after he crawled out of the bottle.

“Fire claimed him?” I asked Momma hoarsely after the silence grew too much for me to bear. “I think somehow he would’ve wanted that.”

“He’s left this for you,” she said, pulling a postcard out of the legal-looking envelope.

Too stunned to cry, I inspected the postcard, recognizing his terse script. Remember, Tara.  I turned the postcard around to view the peaceful grounds of Trinity College. “This is enough,” I said honestly.

“Honey, that’s not all,” Momma whispered, catching my gaze as she offered me the documents in her hand.

I took the communication delicately. The black words on white background played games with my vision momentarily. “To Tara,” I read aloud, shaking, “who reminds me of all that Grace would have been, I give all I would have given her had she survived me, to be held in trust with a small monthly stipend, and the remaining in full upon successful completion of a degree from Trinity College, or other higher learning facility of your choosing.”

“That sneaky drunken fool made a fortune and he’s left it all to you,” Momma said without venom, tears dancing happily in her eyes.

I clutched his last postcard to my heart and refused to let go.

30 comments:

  1. Wow! I love it! The post card was a great way to work in the letter but it felt more ture to the character as a post card. Good Job!

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    1. Thanks for the love! I'm thrilled you enjoyed the read. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  2. Ok you made me cry!!!! visiting fron no 8 on the linkup!

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    1. Thanks for stopping by! You're always welcome here. I'm sorry I made you cry, but I'm glad you liked it. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

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  3. blumnin heck, just followed the link and you got me again!!!

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    1. I know right? I think it may be the most beautiful piece of writing I have ever read. I can't get through his letter myself without a box of tissue at hand.

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  4. Lots of emotion here. The story of Uncle Jim, however brief, was full of meaning. I liked the last sentence. It's a perfect, poignant finish.

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    1. Thanks! The word count kept me brief to be honest. I chopped 130 words out of it before posting. I'm thrilled you enjoyed it. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  5. I remember the letter from the documentary, it can move one to tears. The post card does have the same emotions.

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    1. Thanks! I'm thrilled you could glean the same kind of emotion from the post that you remember from Sullivan's letter. That comparison means the world to me. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  6. I have chills; this is just lovely.

    (A little proof thing...you have fund in the first graf instead of found.)

    You managed to get a lot of history into such a short piece, along with keeping a really consistent voice throughout.

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    1. Oops! Thanks for the catch. You're keeping me honest. I need new glasses...

      I'm thrilled the story worked. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  7. Nicely done. I enjoyed this very much.

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    1. Thanks! I'm thrilled you enjoyed your stay. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  8. Shelton, another nice piece. Very poignant! I really enjoy your work.

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    1. Oh thanks! I'm overjoyed that my work consistently resonates with you. Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  9. Gave me shivers and made my heart sing :) Lovely piece

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    1. Thanks! What a lovely compliment! I'm thrilled you enjoyed your stay. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  10. Beautiful work. I racked my brain with this prompt. You nailed a wide spectrum of emotions beautifully and simply. Loved it

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    1. Thanks for the love! I struggle with prompts too, sometimes the story just won't come. I do look forward to your next piece. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  11. So lovely, Shel. People so easily forget that still waters run deep, even those that blur themselves. I'm glad for Tara. And your intro was beautiful, the emotion struck a chord. I was a fervent letter-writer when I was younger. I got my heart broken (not in a romantic way, in a grieving way, though not so final as yours), and the words dried up. Email took over the world shortly thereafter, and I never really got back into the habit. Maybe some of that longing snuck into my prompting this week...

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    1. Thanks! Emails are easy to keep impersonal. Maybe it's because we rely upon them so heavily in the business world that it bleeds over into our personal lives. But letters, hand-written, sometimes difficult to translate because of too loopy script, or too tiny, are so personal. Even the garish postcard of a tourist trap with the ever present words of "I wish you were here" has an underlying message of "I miss you, I'd love to show this to you someday, you'd never guess what I just saw".

      You'd think an aspiring writer such as myself wouldn't let a letter-writing-block cripple me, but as you said, the words dried up.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  12. Well done, the feeling Tara has for her Uncle Jim are evident in the way she describes him. There seems to be an underlying softness in the words.
    Such a sad story with a bittersweet ending.

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    1. Thanks! I know it was a depressing topic for a Saturday, but I'm thrilled that Tara's love for her uncle shines through. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  13. There is something about the way you write that makes me click your piece every time specially to see what you have in store this time. This one was way awesome.

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    1. Thanks! I am absolutely thrilled that my writing draws you back. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  14. Your intro and reading that first letter back from 1861 (and the battle of bull run is not far from my home) set the tone for me, and while I knew how it would go, the journey getting there was so poignant and emotional, the tears fell freely. What a beautiful story.

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    1. Thanks! I'm sorry I made you cry on a Saturday, but I'm thrilled the journey was worth it. Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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  15. Those letters from the Civil War are classic tear jerkers, aren't they? I'm convinced, we just don't use language the same anymore. That this is where you came from in this piece is very clear. Excellent job!!!

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    1. Thanks! Yes, I agree. Modern technology has led to the degradation of our language.

      Thanks for stopping by and sharing your thoughts!

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