MålfridB

Dear sister

I was so very happy when I got your letter. My new husband came to me this morning with a smile on his face knowing that it was an important letter. I had to fight him for it! It is so wonderful to see your handwriting, just to see it brings me back home. Congratulations! I am so happy for you. I can just imagine you there all happy and radiant, with a little boy on your lap. How are mother and father? You did not mention them. They are angry with me for leaving I know, but I just hope they can forgive me. I just could not take their obsession with Christ anymore. As you very well know, religion never appealed to me. The worst was to leave you, and for that I am terribly sorry. I won’t even tell you about the journey over. It was extremely horrible. When I came here I was petrified, everything is so different from back home. Not even the grass looks the same. The fist sight of my husband was a man who was beating up another man. When I recognised him from the picture, well you can imagine, I just wanted to get right back on the train again. Luckily he turned around and saw me; he stopped immediately and looked me in the eyes. He is even better looking than the picture! Later I was told that the man he was beating up was a drunken troublemaker, who was trying to steal from the newcomers. God! I was relived. Although I have seen some temper in him, he is a very good man. Hopefully he will stay that way. I have heard so many horror stories about men who treat their picture brides as nothing more than slaves. My husband is very good to me, his name is Erick and not Edward as I thought, but it doesn’t matter. I am happy for the man I got. He is very well set too. He has a new farm that can become better and bigger. He believes that we can buy more land soon. I think I am very lucky, he lets me do things I could not imagine anyone at home would let me do. I ride with trousers, I can go wherever I like and he does not make me go to church every Sunday. He is trying to read your letter right now, but it does not sound good. He has learned one or two words, but my English saves us, I have become very good now. Please tell me everything that goes on at home. Even if I am happy enough here, I miss home very much. I hope you can visit me here, or I can come back once. I would so much like to se the mountains again! Pleas give my love to everyone, especially our brother, I hope he understands why I left. I hope you are still well and thriving. Now I must stop, I have to go and do some work.

Forever yours

PS: next time you write, please put a picture of your boy with the letter. I would love to se him!

Dear Jessica The letters from you is the only thing that keeps me going. Pleas tell me about you life and how everyone is doing back home. I have been longing to hear from you every day; I was starting to feel like this is the only place left in the world, that nothing else exists beside trees, bombs, dead bodies, soldiers and fear. All the men here are tired; they have not slept in three days, because of Charlie who has been following us. We got rid of them today, but it was not very pretty. I saw when they dropped the Napalm bomb. I think I won’t ever get rid of the screams, so many, all burning, not just soldiers either. It is just so pointless. A week ago Timmy got shoot, remember him? The tall blond guy I was hanging with in high school? I was just talking to him about you and what the first thing we wanted to do when we came to a civilised place. He wanted to sleep, but I wanted to take a shower. In the end we agreed that lighting a cigarette after dark was what we wanted most. You see we can’t do that here, they aim after the glow. Ten seconds later he was dead. Why? Nobody here really knows what we are fighting for. All I want is to get out of this shitty hellhole alive and come home, to you and Kelly. Every morning I dream that I am waking up and you are lying beside me. I tell you that I love you and you smile at me. Then, I wake up and realise that I am so far from you that I could ever be. I promise you that when I get home, I will tell you that I love you every day! I will play with Kelly every free second. Thank you for the picture of her. She looks beautiful; I just wish I could be there when she becomes three. Nobody knows when we can get out of this crazy place and this pathetic war. Please write to me again when you get this, I’m already longing to hear from you. I love you so much my darlings, you are the light in this hell on earth. Love Will.