Sorry for the hiatus. Please note that the first para should really go with
the last chapter....
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"Yes, if only there were a way to escape my dear Aunt long enough to see anyone. It is amazing I ever see you, as it is." Shirley sighed, "Things will change. They have to. We just need to hold on a little longer, until I finish up my degree. Then nothing can stop us."
Una sat under the weeping willow in Rainbow Valley. She sometimes thought she was like a weeping willow personified – simply bending in the wind. Smoothing the fabric of her dressed pooled on the grass she decided, "At some point, I need to make life happen for me. I can't keep blowing in the wind. After all, the willow can be strong too. Though it may bend, it is hard to break."
She couldn't take being cooped up in the house all day. Faith and her bitterness over the war. Carl and his rebelliousness was becoming too much to handle as well. Finding peace and quiet was no small task these days. There was talk of war everywhere. And where they wasn't the unspoken words hung so heavy in the air they could choke you.
Her only breath of fresh air had come when Shirley had called in the morning. Strangely, he had asked her to come down to Kingsport. There was no way that she could with Rosemary sick and Faith busy with her own war efforts. She wondered what was bothering Shirley, it wasn't like him to call out of the blue. "He can't be thinking of enlisting too! How much are we to bear. To watch all the friends of our youth take up arms for against a country we don't even know why we hate." She would write to him and find out what exactly he needed.
Una picked up Walter's letter again and began reading.
Una dear,
There are times when I there is such clarity in your voice and thoughts that it takes my breath away. It is as though you know what I am thinking and feeling, even though you are not near me. How is it possible for you to read me so well, for you to truly and actually see me?
I write having come to a decision, in large part based on your last letter. I have decided to enlist, and join my compatriots Jem, Jerry, and all of the Ingleside boys. And I tell you this in the strictest of confidence, though I am sure you already know, I am afraid to go. Una, I am so afraid of never coming back. Never being able to see the shades of Rainbow Valley, Rilla's laughter, or mother's slow soft smile. What scares me even more is the thought of coming back the shell of a man. A man who after suffering the brutality of war, can never again smile or see the beauty that is life. Please forgive me for placing such burdens on your mind. But knowing that you know makes the burden on my heart ever so much lighter.
And Una, please take the hat out of your closet and wear it out. Nothing would make me happier than knowing that my girls were still out there laughing, smiling, and looking like dolls. And take care that Rilla does not spoil baby Jims overmuch.
Affectionately, Walter
Una folded the letter back up and sighed. Walter was such an old, old soul. For being a man who saw so much beauty, he also saw far more darkness than she would have thought.
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"Yes, if only there were a way to escape my dear Aunt long enough to see anyone. It is amazing I ever see you, as it is." Shirley sighed, "Things will change. They have to. We just need to hold on a little longer, until I finish up my degree. Then nothing can stop us."
Una sat under the weeping willow in Rainbow Valley. She sometimes thought she was like a weeping willow personified – simply bending in the wind. Smoothing the fabric of her dressed pooled on the grass she decided, "At some point, I need to make life happen for me. I can't keep blowing in the wind. After all, the willow can be strong too. Though it may bend, it is hard to break."
She couldn't take being cooped up in the house all day. Faith and her bitterness over the war. Carl and his rebelliousness was becoming too much to handle as well. Finding peace and quiet was no small task these days. There was talk of war everywhere. And where they wasn't the unspoken words hung so heavy in the air they could choke you.
Her only breath of fresh air had come when Shirley had called in the morning. Strangely, he had asked her to come down to Kingsport. There was no way that she could with Rosemary sick and Faith busy with her own war efforts. She wondered what was bothering Shirley, it wasn't like him to call out of the blue. "He can't be thinking of enlisting too! How much are we to bear. To watch all the friends of our youth take up arms for against a country we don't even know why we hate." She would write to him and find out what exactly he needed.
Una picked up Walter's letter again and began reading.
Una dear,
There are times when I there is such clarity in your voice and thoughts that it takes my breath away. It is as though you know what I am thinking and feeling, even though you are not near me. How is it possible for you to read me so well, for you to truly and actually see me?
I write having come to a decision, in large part based on your last letter. I have decided to enlist, and join my compatriots Jem, Jerry, and all of the Ingleside boys. And I tell you this in the strictest of confidence, though I am sure you already know, I am afraid to go. Una, I am so afraid of never coming back. Never being able to see the shades of Rainbow Valley, Rilla's laughter, or mother's slow soft smile. What scares me even more is the thought of coming back the shell of a man. A man who after suffering the brutality of war, can never again smile or see the beauty that is life. Please forgive me for placing such burdens on your mind. But knowing that you know makes the burden on my heart ever so much lighter.
And Una, please take the hat out of your closet and wear it out. Nothing would make me happier than knowing that my girls were still out there laughing, smiling, and looking like dolls. And take care that Rilla does not spoil baby Jims overmuch.
Affectionately, Walter
Una folded the letter back up and sighed. Walter was such an old, old soul. For being a man who saw so much beauty, he also saw far more darkness than she would have thought.