Object, Matrimony

Ch. 5: Strange Lands

To: Miss Victoria Beauregard

6 Logan Cir NW #2

Washington, D.C.

From: Mister Aaron Hotchner

Box 173

Sapíia, Wyoming Territory

July 25, 1874

Miss Beauregard,

I have included in this envelope a letter from my sister, Miss Jessica Brooks. I appreciate the care and concern you showed in maintaining the integrity of Missus Charlotte's letter to me. I wish I could provide the same assurances. However, my sister decided to read the letter aloud to me and claimed to "make edits according to the depth of my scowl." I believe the version you are receiving is from the third and final round of edits. After that round, it was well after dark and I had to firmly escort her to her home, as it was a school night for both her and Jack.

I have also included a letter from Jack. I must thank you for motivating him to practice his handwriting. He still sometimes writes his letters backward, but he was determined to have excellent penmanship when he responded to you. He has included a new drawing, which he has declared is his finest work and has shown to everyone in town before forcing himself to part with it so it may enter your possession.

To return to the topic of Missus Charlotte's letter, its integrity was never in question, primarily due to your integrity never being in question. You will be pleased to know that Missus Charlotte confirmed the contents of your character and holds you in the highest regard. Your honesty, work ethic, and tea-brewing skills were all praised, as was your determination to aid others. I can say with certainty that should you ever leave the Lightman household, you would be sorely missed.

You wrote that for you to ever leave them, it would have to be for a place possessing qualities that the Lightman household never could. Are there specific qualities which you seek?

Missus Charlotte's letter reminded me of a question that I ask those whose company and conversation are as enjoyable as they are educating: is there a particular passage or story from the Bible that you favor? I have always been partial to the story of Joseph in the Book of Genesis. For a man to bear the pain of rejection from his family and suffering at the hands of strangers with such faith is admirable. For him to turn it into prosperity and protection for all who knew him is aspirational. I confess, there are days I feel as though I am a stranger in a strange land. I was born in Sapíia, yet I spent many pivotal years far from those I knew and loved. I have been back for decades, but there are days when I do not know if I returned to my family as the prodigal son in scraps, or as Joseph in ornate robes.

And to think, you said you were not one for inspiring introspection.

To answer your questions about Sapíia: it is a town unlike any other I have known. There are mountains to the west of us, though they are well over a day's ride away. We are mostly surrounded by plains that ripple in the wind like a golden sea. Some of the land has been cleared to make room for harvesting crops and raising livestock. Forests separate us from the mountains, with trees that grow so tall, it would take a team of men a full day to fell them. In the winter, they are laden with snow, and in the summer, their green leaves form a canopy overhead so dense that walking beneath them is like walking through dusk.

The town itself is composed of buildings that are so new that their walls still smell of the forests, and structures that are so old that one wonders how they remain upright. There is a main street where necessities can be found, including a general store, post office, school house, church, and doctor's office (Doctor Reid has given me a clean bill of health since last I wrote you, despite my lack of self-preservation). We are simple people, and our ways of passing time likely appear uninteresting to those who reside in the cities.