Dear Boots… I mean Margaret,
I caught them at it again this afternoon when I came home from helping Mrs. Cormaci. They were whispering in the living room. It seems Mom was upset again about you playing with your Temp doll and persuading Dad to tell you that you'd made it all up and to cut it out.
I'm here to tell you that you didn't make it all up. There really is a big cockroach named Temp who adores you and calls you the Princess. You used to ride around on his back. You and Temp and Hazard used to talk to each other in this really fast combination of English and cockroach clicks. If given half the chance, you could become an ambassador to the roaches or the spinners or the hissers or the stingers or the mouses (mice)(uh - nibblers). I bet you can learn all their languages too, just like Hazard.
But if Mom has her way, you'll forget all about the Underland before you turn four. She'll make you think you made Temp up. But he's as real as you or me. Just like Howard is, and Ares, my big black bat who died, and even Luxa.
I'll never forget when Luxa slapped my cheek on the first night we were in the Underland. You immediately pointed your finger at her and said "No hitting!" I mean, wow! Luxa is a queen! I bet not many people talk to her the way you did.
And you actually saved us by insisting we stop so you could sing to the baby stingers. That means they were these really big scorpions. One prick from their tails would have killed any of us. But you weren't scared, not at all. You just wanted to make friends with them right away so you could sing to their babies. The Underland owes a lot to you.
You and I used to ride around on Ares all the time, me sitting forward and you with your back to my back so you could talk to Temp. Sometimes we stretched out on Ares's back and fell asleep while he flew through the caverns in the Underland, usually saving us from something terrible.
Don't let Mom or Dad tell you you made it all up. You didn't. If you want proof, just ask to see my scars. They're like a roadmap to the Underland.
Your brother,
Gregor
