Dearest Edgar, your reply has arrived at last … actually it came with greater haste than I had anticipated … I slept again late this after-noon, but I have mostly regained consciousness … I am fortunate to report that my heart remains, for the most, intact and in working order after Monday’s occasion, save for a very slight soreness that I do believe shall heal given proper due course. … You see, I was in front of my residence on Monday, gazing at the tulips … which had the audacity to open on such a frozen day … when I was struck by the glance of the boy posing female … I thought perhaps I had found a kindred soul … as his girlish was appearance was not unlike my own, being myself an androgyne boy navigating a path somewhat toward a more profound womanhood … though I am reasonably confident it was not myself to whom I spoke … I remember blonde locks whilst speaking to him, and I, myself, for the moment, am not a blonde … thus I can speak with some surety with regard to the boy’s identity being separate from my own … of course, one can never be entirely sure, but I shall endeavour to tell the story never-the-less. He was, I had the notion, a bit younger than I, but older than you, love … late secondary school, or perhaps university age … he approached and called out to me … he asked for guidance in his route to hospital … of course, I do not believe he was ill, though he was pale … highlighted by his black clothing … he was, perhaps, of Scandinavian descent like myself … and he did look cold and slight … perhaps from malnourishment or perhaps because it is in vogue to appear this way of late … but his lips were full and crimson, thus I believe he was in good health … in any case, the city in which I reside is famous the world over as a place where many come to convalesce … thus I am of the opinion that he was to visit a relative, a grand-parent, perhaps … in any case, I directed him … the hospital was but three blocks southward … he thanked me and then made a statement about the tulips … with a quiet, kind inflection … and using terminology, such that I suspect he was more knowledgeable about flora than I might be … and began walking in the direction in which I indicated to him … though I did catch a backwards glance as he departed. I then was left alone with the flowers … heart aflutter … would that I’d have said something more to him! … though, of course, I didn’t want to seem forward. … I could have treated him to a Brooklyn egg cream … and we might have talked for hours, after the sun fell below the horizon … I might have read French poetry to him, or asked him to read to me … and we’d have lain in bed and talked quietly about the world’s affairs, as it rained beyond our window … I consider it a lost experience. … I am pleased to report that the chill outside has moved on, and in its place, a great wind, delivering much warmer air … such variations in climate are indeed quite common in these northern reaches, and here we have no sea nor ocean nearby to temper conditions. … Well, gosh, you see, given the proper opportunity to do so, I have gone on far too long in this correspondence. … thus, I bid you bonne nuit, love, and pleasant dreams. Yours, A.
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