Dear Gen: A love letter

Chapter Nine

Either your trip took longer than he expected, or after a whirlwind summer in New York you simply didn't have the energy for a letter as soon as you got home, you didn't write to Andy. He waited for as long as his poor anxious heart could wait, then sent you a letter.

~

West Point

Aug. 25. 1925

Dear Genevieve:

Its more than a week since I last wrote to you and I haven't got any answer. I have made several trips to the post office but never got a letter and I'm sure anxious to hear from you and to know that you have arrived safely home. I'm going to the Post Office again to-night. So will write you a few lines.

I surely think you must be home by now as its more than a week since you were to leave New York. I sincerly hope that you are safely home. Please write me little girl as I'm alful anxious to hear from you.

I'm up here alone and aevery day seems like a week to me. I think of you every day and wondering where you are little girl and why you don't write.

I sure hope that you will come up Sept. 6th as I'm sure longing to see your sweet smiling face once more.

It has been almost a year since last we saw each other

But seems much longer than that to me.

Here's hoping this finds you well and happy will say good-bye for now

As ever

Andy

P.S. please excuse the scribbling and all mistakes. 

~

After glancing over the letters, I think he's right: it really has been nearly a year since he saw you last.

Though it made him anxious, he continued to wait for you, Gen. Why? Could he have really loved you that much from the moment he met you? I'm still trying to wrap my head around it.

As I read the letters, I find his loyalty to you a mixture of impressive and incredulous. Was he simply loyal, or foolish, or both? If it wouldn't be detrimental to my ancestry, I'd travel back in time and hand him a copy of He's Just Not That Into You. No answer is your answer, dude. Let her go.

This is a harsh viewpoint, but seriously Gen, how had he not thrown in the towel yet? A year later, and all he really had from you were flirtatious half-baked promises and a growing pile of letters. Which, as romantic as these letters are, they're inked words on a page. Are they anything to build a committed relationship from? 

Besides, you had a life down in San Francisco--a job, friends, family. You were sorting out your mother's possessions. You really were, in fact, busy. Andy was not a priority in your life, and that's fine; he didn't have to be. You were so young. Was keeping a man--one who lived far away, and by no means fit into your life at the time at all--interested really something you should have concerned yourself with?

Also, what did everyone think of Andy's infatuation with you? Calaveras County is a small town, and Andy made it no secret of how he felt about you to anybody. Did the townsfolk think he was foolish for waiting for you for so long? I imagine after he left the post office with yet another letter from San Francisco, the postmaster would turn to another employee or customer and gossip, that poor fellow has been pining for that girl in San Francisco for over a year now, and she'll barely give him the time of day.

A little old bitty would then her head and reply, why doesn't he marry one of our girls here instead? There's plenty of nice ones to choose from, if he would just go to a dance!

Oh, you know Andy, says he has two left feet.

He's just trying to get out of picking a local girl for a wife. She would tsk her tongue, as old bitties do. If that boy doesn't get his head out of the clouds about that girl, he's never going to marry!

Andy was almost thirty-three years old by this time, but old bitties don't care about stuff like that. Of course, Andy probably was still a boy in her eyes, since old bittyies are, well, old.

What if the old bitty is the ex-circus lady? *Gasp!*

Anyway, maybe Andy's anxious, love-sick letter stirred something in you, and you snuck in some time at work to write to him to let him know you had arrived safely back to San Francisco. Relief flooded him when the postmaster handed him your letter. Perhaps the postmaster shook his head as Andy rushed out of the building, the bell dinging behind him. That boy has it bad, he would say.

I bet Andy read and reread your letter late into the night and mulled it over the next day as he worked and rode Jimmy around, your words tucked safely in his pocket. The following evening, when he finally had a moment, wrote you this reply:

Mokelumne Hill

September 1, 1925

Dear Genevieve:

I received your sweet welcome letter last night and believe me it was sure a great relief to hear from you Gen, I'm so glad you got home alright. I didn't know what to think I hadn't heard from you for such a long time. I went to the post office every night for a week, expecting a letter, and got disappointed each time. Believe me when the old boy at the post office handed me out your letter last night it made me alful happy.

I guess you think I'm an alful pest little girl wanting you to write me so often, and me writing you so many letters telling you how lonesome I am riding around alone.

Well I took a ride to-day as I have a little work to do down here, I'll be here for a couple of weeks so address you next letter to Mokelumne Hill.

I am alful happy to know that you are coming up Gen, even if it isn't the 6th of Sept.

When ever you can come up Gen just let me know the day and date and I'll sure be there to meet you.

So don't be working too hard Gen you know it isn't good for sweet little girls to work too hard.

I have Jimmy saddled and standing out at the gate waiting to mail this letter its 11 bells p.m. Guess Jimmy thinks he had put in a full day. So will say good-bye for this time

As ever,

Andy

P.S. Please excuse the scribbling

As he rode to the post office in Mokelumne Hill and slipped his letter in the mailbox, he thought of you, and his infatuation continued.