. . .

Letters to another scale

Greg,

How you doing, man? Long time! I thought I'd drop you a line, catch up, see how life goes with you.

I'm married now. I know, man. Not fair of me to just hit you with it like that. "Harry? The ultimate swingin' single? Married?" Yup. Found a gal. Her name's Katherine, and she's an accounts supervisor, and the first time I laid eyes on her, I thought to myself that I was gonna marry her. I mean, talk about built! And she's smart, too! An accounts supervisor!

I'm kinda busy, so I'll just send this off, see if you're still living in the same place. If not, it'd be kinda stupid of me to write a long letter!

Harry

6/18/01 Harold,

It was splendid to receive your letter of Tuesday the 23rd of May. (I assume that is the date you wrote it, as it was that date that the letter was postmarked.) No, I most certainly am not residing at my former locale, but they were kind enough to forward the missive on to me, and due to the grace of the post office gods it has arrived. Remarkable.

But, as I was saying, it was most certainly a surprise. I hadn't thought about you in some time, and to have a message from you appear out of the blue, so to speak, on my doorstep was a distinct shock to me. I immediately undertook to respond. You'll find my current address on the envelope.

Re your marriage, that was less of a surprise to me than you seem to believe. You were never quite the "swingin' single" you liked to pretend to be. Many's the time I thought to myself that the love of a good woman was all you needed to settle you down. And lo! my predictions have come to pass.

I, likewise, have entered into the shackles of wedded bliss. Her name is Francine, and a more beauteous name never escaped the lips of the angels, to my mind. She was a waitress at some local diner when I rescued her, but there will be none of that for the wife of Gregory Hortenfeld, Jr.! She has given all that up, and is engaged currently in taking care of the house for her eventual pregnancy, a state we hope that she will acheive shortly.

If you respond to this promptly, we might make it a frequent aspect of our lives. What fun! A penpal! And one I am familiar with from my college days, to boot!

Regards, Gregory Hortenfeld, Jr. GHj:GHj