Athena Sweet,
Residence 12,
Triumph Road,
New Dawn.
Letter Sequence 76.
Dear Aunt Sheila,
Thank you so much for your lovely letter. Of course, I’m very concerned to hear my mother is ill, but also heartened by your assurances she is being well looked after and there is nothing for me to be concerned about.
It was so unlike my mother not to write to me at least every once in a while. I know she’s never been the greatest of letter writers, but after eight weeks of not hearing from her, well, you can understand my concerns, I’m sure. It can feel so very lonely and isolated here at times, being so far away from home. I know mother has always thought I’m hard as nails, but even I have my limits. It had begun to feel as if I had been abandoned. But, anyway, you’ve written to me now, so at least I know now what is going on and that there is someone out there who has remembered I am still here!
I was, though, shocked to hear that you know so much about Melanie. Mother never said a thing to me about her, which seems a little strange after what you told me in your letter. Perhaps she didn’t realise how much trouble I could have found myself in.
I’ve spent ages this morning, since reading your letter, re-visiting in my mind lots of the very many conversations I’ve had with Melanie since she moved into the unit next door to Liana. It does seem clear now that she made something of an effort to become friends with me from the very beginning. The silly thing is, I was so very willing myself to make a new friend. It’s not as if I’ve so many friends I can’t keep up with them all.
We all have our little secrets, of course, especially in this day and age, but it was so disappointing to hear you say that I should tread carefully there. Oh, well, I suppose I will have to heed your words. I wonder if Liana is aware? Hard to think why she might know, but that doesn’t mean she hasn’t worked things out for herself.
I suppose Melanie has relatives of her own that she writes to regularly, sharing all the week’s news. Perhaps even now, as I write this letter, she is writing one of her own. If it includes such exciting tit-bits as our discussion yesterday about nail varnish then it would make for a truly riveting read. Not to mention our discussion on Monday about sandwich spread.
As you suggest, I shall continue sending mother my weekly letters, only I will post them to you so you can share them with her. It’s often pretty uninspiring stuff, to be honest, but if it makes mother happy then that’s fine with me. Normal service will be resumed next week.
I would very much like to make a trip home, the sooner the better. Travel, I know, is so very difficult at the moment, but, after what you’ve told me about mother and the stress of the last eight weeks, I think I would really benefit a great deal from spending a little time amongst friends and family. What do you think? Would I be wasting my time trying to make arrangements? Hopefully not, but do let me know what you think.
Thank you again for writing to me. It really is a relief to know mother is alright and that you haven’t all forgotten about me. Take care.
Your loving niece, Athena.
xxx
