Postcard from the past
March 5, 2008 — herselfI was just going through some old postcards when I found this one. It’s of Mt. St. Helens, in Washington, and was taken after the May 18, 1980 Volcanic Eruption. It’s from someone who I don’t remember at all; but it must have been a teacher. It was written in February of 1987, so I must have been ten at the time. Ten, ten. I think I was in fourth grade then. My teachers in fourth grade were Mr. Sherwood and Mrs. Brown. She can’t have been my teacher at the time. Did she teach at Lake Shore? It reads:
Dear Jessica,
Thank you so for writing me and telling me what stories and authors you like! There are some tricks to getting the story innards in one’s head: drawing a map of the whole story; walking through that map; having another character tell it other than the hero or heroine; and tell the story to lots & lots of friends! How wonderful of you to tell stories to your younger sister!
Your friend,
Mrs. Boryer
Anyway, I think that’s the name. It’s quite hard to make out as the ink’s a little smudged. It could read Boryer, Borner or perhaps Borver.
I can’t stop wondering about this woman: who she is; why she wrote such a friendly postcard to me; what I must have written to her in my initial letter.
It’s a cute postcard too; she’s written up the side, and drawn arrows to more text at the top of the card, and then she writes around to the other side again.
‘Your friend Mrs. Boryer.’ It’s mysterious. And yet she’s obviously taken my questions so seriously. I don’t know quite what to think. I’ve had this postcard for ages; it’s been in my pile of postcards I suppose since I received it. And yet I don’t remember the text on the back at all. Have I had some sort of blackout? Is my memory really that bad?
It’s disturbing and wonderful at the same time. Haunting too. I wish I could write her, find out who she is.
