The Notebook Never Sleeps

Ezra & Lucia

Ezra. Hebrew. Old Testament name of a helper. Lucia. Italian. 4th century name of a graceful martyr. The two went together as benevolence and good virtue did. They went together as fingernails and fingers did. Perhaps as together as heaven and the depths of the sky. For all the air he blew out, she took in. For every birthday wish he made, she was on his mind. Ezra and Lucia, like two angels. Ezra and Lucia, like a two-piece puzzle. Ezra and Lucia, two halves of a broken heart.

August, 1963

Dear Lucia,

I know that you've told me not to write you. You are on a train to Istanbul, so it is likely that you aren't going to get this, but I don't care. I don't want you to read this anyway. If you read this, you would leave me in a way that is far greater than leaving miles and miles away to Turkey.

I've decided to move to America. I don't know where to in America, but I have been saving money before I even met you. When I met you, I thought I was convinced that moving to America would mean nothing to me. I felt happy living in any place that you were living in. But now you are gone, and I've found that no where I am headed to can ever be my home.

Ezra