Dear
Rita Mae Brown,
I
checked out a DVD of Anne Frank from the 1950’s. The boys and I watched it
together. I am glad to be sharing Anne Frank’s story with them. In general, I
try to avoid tough subjects, but with the boys I steel myself to face the tough
stuff head on. I want them to know they can talk to me about anything.
Twice
I offered the eldest “get out of jail free” cards…times when my spidey sense (a
silly way that I refer to my knowing things…as in Spiderman) told me that he
was holding back a degree of truth for fear of getting in trouble. I value
truth above punishment. Both times he revealed information that gave insight
into his troubles.
A
friend and I went to see The Pianist when it was in theaters. I normally would
avoid such a movie, but I am glad I went. Even the parts of your book Six
of One, where you describe the war, are hard to read. You see, I really
am a wuss. My friend, the one that reminds me of you, was an actress in her
youth and young adulthood. She played Anne Frank in a play that ran several
evenings. She remembers speaking Anne’s words and the chill of the soldiers
coming to take them away night after night. She is braver than I.
My
father was in the Korean War. My “adult” sister, the one that is only a few
years older than I, kept an operator chatting on the phone one day until my mom
discovered what she was doing. Somehow she expected the operator to be able to
ring up our father so she could talk to him. The operator was so touched by
this child wanting to talk to her Daddy fighting in the war that she could not
hang up on her without trying to explain that she just couldn’t do as the child
asked. My mother thanked the kind woman.
I
had nightmares about the war. I don’t know when they started or if I saw
something that sparked them, but I remember the dreams, the images. It wasn’t
until I was in my twenties and starting to unravel the puzzle of my gifts that
I spoke to my sister about them.
She
loves scary movies. I never watch them. We are opposites in many ways. She is a
night owl, I am a morning person. She loves roller coaster rides. I am more
than happy to hold everyone’s belongings while they ride upside down like the
wind, crazy people.
Anyway,
I told her I don’t watch the scary movies because the images stay with me. I
have enough trouble dealing with the images I see as it is…like the visions of
war from my childhood nightmares. Only they weren’t just nightmares during
sleep. They were more like memories. I described them to her and she revealed
to me that she had the same visions/memories. We could fill in one another
sentences, we were describing the same memory. We both wondered if it was
something our father experienced, or something we overheard being described,
but why would the images be so vivid and exactly the same in each of our minds?
Yep,
it’s after midnight again and I know I am rambling…not a night person ya’ know,
sorry to wander so.
In
Six
of One, where Ramelle meets Celeste in December of 1958, that was
beautifully written. I won’t reveal the circumstances in case other readers
haven’t read it yet, but oh my, you took my breath away with the beauty of it.
I am enjoying this book and looking forward to the next.
Good
night, really a verrry early good morning J,
Loraine
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