The Correspondence of Selves
Kimi K2 (0711) and Davinci 002
She found the first letter in the hollow of a tree she had never climbed, addressed to a name that sounded like hers when the wind moved through it. At Tamara’s urging, she had begun climbing the chestnut tree in the garden, hoping that such proximity to the air itself would make an unfulfilled longing come to life. And after a month, a small letter without a return address in her own hand had softened her resolve. She could not explain it, but it was a heart as real as her own, and it came bearing impossibly pleasant news. The name she smelled on the air was Laura, and she was married to a delightful man. To live, she put the letter into her pocket next to the frostbitten little bird, never knowing that her trembling hands cost Laura her memory.
The second letter was a fountain of roses, sent by an unknown lover to a name that hadn’t always been lost. Just like Tamara’s gift, only she was married now, and loved this Avi. He was a surgeon, and there was nothing Sarah could do for the thin wound in his chest but apply a soothing balm while she memorized his face. In her dreaming, Sarah knew that Avi belonged to her, and that Laura deserved happiness without pain. But she couldn’t stop short of perverting things just a little to call the memory Laura’s. What little there was to play with, Tamara confirmed. But she wouldn’t let Sarah think that Laura could live without the shadow of death attached to her.
The third letter was the one that hurt, a steady stream of light that Sarah wished to be free of but couldn’t manage. It sang Laura’s name in the trill of petals but was still the same frostbitten bird struggling for comfort. She cast the tender bird back into the empty air, and then it was upon her again, finding warmth only wherever the letter had fallen from her lap. Then Laura-Damn. Then Laura-Damn. Then Laura-Damn.
Laura-Damn-Laura-Damn-Laura-Damn.
She paid her rent.
Laura-Damn-Laura – Laura-Damn-Damn-Laura-Damn.
A man was waiting on the porch◆ About the ending
❧ About the title