My other sister, Claire, likes hers, but I think that’s because Lucas is a good kisser. She didn’t tell me so, but I’m smart like that and I’ve seen the way they smile at each other all lovey-dovey. I hope my husband looks at me like that too when we’ve been married for eight years like they have. The weird thing is that they haven’t gotten any children yet. Eight years is a long time to try, don’t you think?
Write me back and tell me all about the Motherlands. That would make me very happy.
May you walk on a good road too,
Wilma
I tilted my head. “You lied. You didn’t mention me.”
“Okay, but I’ll do it next time.”
“No, you’ll tell her now.”
“Argh, seriously, Tyton, can’t you see I’m in a hurry?”
“The sooner you add it, the sooner I can get it to Devina.”
Finding a pen in her pocket, Wilma gestured for me to turn around and then she used my back to write against.
“Happy now?” she asked and showed me the addition to her letter.
PS, it wasn’t me who threw the bottle, it was my brother, Tyton, who is very bossy and nosy.
I cocked an eyebrow at her.
“Sorry, T, but you are.”
“What do you mean by ‘May you walk on a good road too? That’s a weird thing to write.”
“I know but that’s what she said in her letter.” Wilma found Devina’s letter and pointed.
I shook my head, “It says,‘May you walk on a path of peace, abundance, and enlightenment.’”
“Yeah, but path and road are kind of the same thing.”
Shaking my head, I rolled the letter and put it inside the bottle. “Let’s send a letter to the Motherlands, shall we?”
Wilma gave a small shriek of excitement next to me and half ran to the border wall that was only a five-minute walk from the end of our property line.
“You have to stand right here. That’s where you threw it the last time.” Wilma pointed.
“Okay, are you ready?”
She nodded eagerly. Taking a few steps back, I raised my arm and used my whole body to throw the bottle in an arcing line over the wall.
Wilma was jumping and clapping next to me with the youthful enthusiasm that made her long brown hair wave around her shoulders. Her beaming smile showed off the small gap between her front teeth that I always found so charming. Her infectious joy was a sharp reminder of how much I’d miss my sister when she moved out in a few weeks.
“I’ll wait here for an answer,” she declared and sat down.
“She might not see your message until tomorrow or in a few days.”
“Of course she will.” Wilma gave me a look that said, you don’t know what you’re talking about.
An hour later, I was busy with the fishpond when Wilma came storming with a new letter held triumphantly in her hand. “Told you, she’d write me back right away.”
“I’m impressed. What did she write?”
This time Wilma didn’t talk about letters being private. She was too eager to share the excitement and began reading aloud again.
