Anya hated learning cursive. It was stupid and complicated. If they were using invisible ink or something, that would be an entirely different story. Who used cursive? Mama didn't. She had a typewriter.

Well, the… thingies used cursive. They were hard to spot, almost invisible. The thingies were all hazy, but she could see the letters they wrote, sort of see-through but not all the way see-through? Like ghost letters!

(Talking about ghosts would get her in trouble, though, so she stayed quiet about it.)

There was an invisible thingie for almost everyone, she thought. Papa and Mama had their own, all the adults on the street had their own- but it seemed like Papa's loved to write, and just threw his letters away randomly. Papa's thingie was a really bad spy- but that meant Anya got to read his notes!

Anya poked out her tongue and got to reading. Cursive was hard!

My Dear Wormwood,

(What sort of silly name was that?)

I warned once before, but I'll say it again- urging attraction to the woman will do you no good! Your puerile babbling about lust is nothing if the charms of a family drag him to the Enemy's camp!

The model here is tried and true, practically textbook. Let him damn himself in pursuit of 'good'. The patient wants peace and a safe world for children- idealistic, and therefore workable. Do not attempt to make him bend here, but rather let him damn himself with a thousand smaller crimes.

I have already explained to you, at length, that war alone is not good for us. The self-sacrifice, the reflection on their mortality, and the occasional spots of mercy that wartime brings will bring them to the Enemy more surely than simmering nationalist hatred. We cannot have them in perfect peace, yet we cannot have them dying in gallantry. The Enemy proves himself terribly capable of pulling men towards himself in even the worst of times.

Do not mistake the patient's temporary feelings of fury or anxiety for your purpose. You are young- you have not yet realized the delectable taste of a fool who joyfully walked himself into Our Father's domain, none the wiser. Wait.

As for your comments regarding our coworker Impaliurus, I will remind you that the woman is none of your concern. He 'doesn't have much work' because he guided her into her murderous habit for years on end. The woman has a serious pit to pull herself out of and shows no particular sign of wanting to.

Your patient teeters on the edge. Wavers. Further attachment to the woman and the child especially will pull him towards the Enemy- let him isolate himself instead. From what you have told me, the child can be remarkably annoying-

(Wait a minute!)

and you want to stress those parts of her that disappoint him. But do it subtly- your patient might snap out of it if he were to grow enraged with a child. He and his coworkers value the girl far too highly for him to truly lose his temper with her. As for your worries regarding the girl herself, she is something of a special case- a demon should have been assigned, if not for some particularly unfortunate tangle of red tape.

The Enemy can work very efficiently through children, uncomplicated and gullible creatures that they are. Mind that the girl does not distract the patient from his appointment with Our Father Below.

Your affectionate uncle,

Screwtape

Anya… wasn't sure what all that meant, but she figured whoever was doing this was targeting Papa. So… she had to stop them, somehow.

Improbus (wicked) + paliurus (briar)