Full Summary:
Laura Hardy was married before she married Fenton Hardy. But disaster struck, leaving her with a child and no place to go. Now 22 years later, Joe & Frank get a letter from someone in Africa. Will their mother tell them who it is? And what happens when she shows up on their doorstep? Will they accept her as the sister they never knew?
The Letter:
Fake address for the Hardy's.
The Envelope:
Ms. Alyani Kimbundla
Maputo, Mozambique Africa
The Letter:
Dear Frank & Joe,
I know you don't know who I am, but I know who you are. You are my mother's sons. I have read about you on the internet, or at least of what you are know for in your home town. Please don't find this letter to be an invasion into your privacy. I wish only to speak to you in privacy. If you would like to contact me, please ask your mother for my information. I sent her a letter last month detailing in how to contact me. I'm sorry I wasn't able to grow up with you, but at least now you know that you have a sister. I was adopted when I was born; it seems our mother couldn't take care of me. I won't go into detail on why she couldn't keep me, you can ask her.
I know this is going to be a little weird, learning you have an older sister, whom you never knew existed. Please do not blame your mother for never telling you. I do not blame her for giving me up for adoption. I have had the most wonderful time growing up in Africa. I only wish that now you can know some of my life. I have enclosed a copy of my schedule. If you would like to come to Africa, please let your mother know so she can contact me. And just in case you are wondering and in advance, I do not mind if you bring any friends along. If you don't want to come, I understand. But please do not blame your mother. She had her reasons and I am to understand, from what my father has told me that it was a very good reason.
Now to the more important stuff. I am 26-years-old, have long black hair with gold streaks in it. I am expecting my first child within a couple months and I would love for her to meet her uncles. I have taken over the family business, running the Animal Sanctuary my father's father started about 200 miles outside of Maputo. There are some permanent residents of the Sanctuary that will never be set free due to medical conditions: two tigers, a giraffe, three elephants, four eagles, two hyenas, two lions, two lionesses, two silverback gorillas, and four chimps. My husband, Adiel and I go out every morning around eight o'clock to look over the property, but we are only two people. I would like to hire you both to help us protect our property. In exchange for helping me, you will learn more about whom I am and how we can stay in contact with each other.
And like I said, I want to hire you. You will be paid for working at the Sanctuary, though you might want to get used to riding camels first, because that's the only way you'll be getting to Maputo. There is a village on the outskirts of our 400 acre property. Our property is fenced off [a tall metal fence with thick chain link running between the thick metal posts]. Please do not be afraid as I am only asking you of this as a sister who wants to reconnect with the brothers she wished she had grown up with.
Again, I mean you no harm whatsoever. If you find this letter a bit extreme coming from someone you don't know, then give the letter to your mother and be done with it. If that is the case and I do not hear from you, I will write to your mother instead asking if you found my letter objective.
Please do consider coming to Mozambique. I would love a chance to get to know you and am looking forward to seeing your faces. Inside like I said, is a copy of my schedule. There is also a hand drawn picture of the two of you. Your mother sent me a picture a couple months ago of each of you. I managed to draw you at a spare moment in my time. Please do not hesitate to contact me.
Your Unknown Half-Sister,
Alyani Kimbundla
Alyani's Schedule:
5-6:00am: Get up and get ready for the day.
6-7:00am: Feed the animals in the Sanctuary.
7-8:00am: Get breakfast for the two of us.
8-12:00pm: Go out to check the property and make sure nobody's gotten over the fence in the night.
12-1:00pm: Come back to the house and have lunch.
1-2:00pm: Go out and let the animals have free range of the property so they can have some exercise besides of always staying in their cages.
2-5:00pm: Park Ranger's usually bring by an injured animal or we go out driving to see if there are any injured animals.
5:30-7:30pm: If there are any injured animals, come back to the Sanctuary, take animal(s) to the operating room and fix them up.
7:45-9:00pm: Go to the village every Thursday for a meeting.
9-10:00pm: Get an hour of TV time in then we head off to bed.