Don't you just love the books and movies about someone finding an old letter in the wall of a house or in a newly discovered trunk in the attic. Usually there's a mystery involved, maybe even a homicide, or a dark secret of historical significance revealed. It's a great story line! How many times have authors used that trick?
Well! It happened here! Yep! Unbelievable, isn't it?
Because we are remodeling our kitchen and DUST is everywhere (that's another story), Honeybuns removed all the cabinet doors and drawers to be painted. Stuffed under the bottom drawer of the desk was a bunch of papers, a plastic bag, a lone place mat, old stationary AND a large manila envelope addressed to the original owner of the house. Those "treasures" had evidently been in hiding for many years. The house was built in the mid-90's and it seems no one but the spiders had checked that abandoned spot for a long time.
I threw away most of the discovery but checked out that manila envelope before it hit the trash bin.
There was a split second where I thought MAYBE, just MAYBE, there was a stash of cold dusty cash, a certificate of ownership of something valuable, or a paper describing some stock in an oil company or the name of who really shot JFK or the location of Jimmy Hoffa's body. Adrenaline was flowing. (Yes, I read a lot of fiction.)
Inside the envelope was a very long letter to Nancy, the original owner of the house. It was sent by her friend Karen who at the time lived in BROKEN ARROW, OK. (Now, that town is in caps because we moved from BROKEN ARROW, OK just three years ago.) What????
How odd is that??? Do I know this mysterious Karen??
Here's the scoop. Karen was writing to her friend to tell her of a new ministry she had just become involved with at the United Methodist Church, BROKEN ARROW, OK. A group of women gathered together to make and send greeting cards to people that needed some encouragement.
She sent samples of the cards, stories of people that were in distress and some follow-up replies of grateful folks that were on the receiving end.
She stated how she missed her friend, asked about the family, and shared names and news of her friends there in BROKEN ARROW, OK that were also participating. She named the pastor, administrative people and members of her church. It was a gossipy sort of letter.
I scoured all the names. Surely, I knew some of those folks. BROKEN ARROW, OK is a large city but I know folks there that attend that lovely downtown Methodist church to this day.
Nope, I didn't recognize a one. I know, silly to think that I would!
BUT, what are the odds of finding a letter in a house that had been sent from BROKEN ARROW, OK? Did I say, we'd just moved from there 3 years ago. It is a LOVELY, WONDERFUL place and the lifestyle is easy and peaceful. We have some dear friends that live in that area. It was home for 8 years.
Well, no cash, no homicide, no stock certificate, no fast breaking news worthy of interrupting a football game or sit-com. I'm going to have to embellish quite a bit to make a best-seller out of this mysterious letter in the wall. (That's what all writers do, you know.) I'll pour over it some more when this remodeling is done and I am no longer DUSTING!
Watch for it! This story may make it to the big silver screen one day! Or not!
Or maybe I'll put Karen's letter back under that drawer for some future owner to find. It'll be a real novelty when in that paperless society, some one finds a "parchment" imposed with strange cursive hieroglyphics. That in itself will be an historical moment.
