Letter From Sunny

  Found this under the bed while exploring. I'm not sure who Sunny was, I mean, I've heard stories, but she must've known Wesley.  - Rags 8-14-13

7-9-13  

 "Dear People,

       "I'm not sure how to start this...can't ask Wesley to help me type it, so I guess I'll just scratch it down on paper. I mean, of all those books I chewed up as a puppy; something had to rub off, right? Libraries are good things. They have tasty books with lots of cool smells, friendly people like Mimi working there, and sales!

       "But this letter isn't about libraries. It's about Wes. I'm worried about him. He's so stressed, and scared, unsure of what's ahead, trying to cope with whatever College has done to him. Maria von Trapp said in The Sound of Music, "You can't use school to escape your problems, Liesel; you've got to face them." Except I'm not sure he can... some can't really be dealt with, just left in the past and hope they don't visit very often. He seems so sad and alone; it's like his body is here at the house, but his mind is...somewhere else. And it isn't a very good place.

       "I haven't heard anything about any new stories he's been working on, that is bad. If he can't tell a story of some kind... He's nervous about what will happen when he gets out of college, about getting a job. I don't really like that guitar or mandolin very much, but he enjoys petting them. And he hasn't been able to do that very much for a while. He wants to; I can tell; but he can't, for some reason. And he hasn't really since that time he came back from camp that one year...sure, some stuff for the youth group, but not just for pure enjoyment.

       "Why does he have to go back to College soon? And what will that do to him? He seems so frightened, and changed, somehow...scarred, like he's been through something more awful than the fire. His...inside stuff, maybe his tummy? the part of a person that feels things, is so achingly lonely...then the Fourth of July didn't help anything. And the chicken and Meg, and then Skeet...that adds to his troubles. And, well, as for me...I don't have very much longer to be here. My job is pretty much finished; he's grown up now, and so I'm glad of that. But he doesn't seem very happy. Not that it's that important to always be or anything, but still... Will he be able to cope without me being there? How will he handle it when I'm no longer there to watch him? Who will take care of him?

       "Sure, I know Copper will do her best. And the family will miss him when he heads back to Tahlequah, and there's people from church and friends from camp. But it's like he doesn't exactly belong any of those places any more. There was the church picnic the other night, and if I'm right, Wes just kind of floated around on the edges and sadly watched everyone else having fun. Yeah, I thought so. He'll be going back to camp later this month as a counselor, which is kind of like a pack leader. That will be different, most of the campers are Caleb's age. Hoping to go to that Washington reunion, too, that would be nice. He hasn't gotten to see most of those people in a couple years, and he had a great time.

       "But what he really needs, even if he doesn't want to admit it, is a Person. Or maybe he just is too scared to figure out the first step in finding one...just as he'd finally left everything with Maddie in the past, what does Sam do but tear everything up again. It's funny...Maddie was blonde, like me. If I'm Wishbone, and if Wes is Joe, then...would she have been Sam? And then he meets Sam. Sort of funny how that works, isn't it? Mom picked out her wedding ring not realizing it was from the Monopoly board, it's that same type of deal.

       "To His Person: I don't know who you are, probably, but please take good care of Wes. He'll try to do his best for you, and you ought to do the same. If he counts you as a friend, treasure that; it doesn't come easily, at all. (We're both kind of suspicious that way...sorry. We don't mean anything by it, it's just that most people you run into are just other people, they don't really care about what's happening, except for what's happening with them.) And then, if by lots of petting and conversations and whatever else people do, then you should go to church and have puppies, no - babies, is that it? Kids. Yeah, well, do that.

       "I just hope that eventually he can be writing again, and not so confused all the time. That he can find something useful to do, where he can work at something he does well, that he likes doing. I'm not going to be here very long now at all...it will be very, very hard on him. Yes, it will be better for me, my job was done as best I could; and my bones won't be as stiff and hurt so much, and these ticks will stop bothering me, and I can see out of both eyes again; but for him....it will be like the fire all over again. Or Mimi. Or Dado. Or senior year of high school, with everything that happened then. Learning to drive, and that whole mess. Or that first time at camp. Sport. Or Rocky or Swifty. Or all of the cats. Shadow. Skeet. College.

       "No...it'll be a little like all of those, all at once. Except worse.

       "Copper, the little goats, whoever else will come along - Take care of him as much as you can for me, will you? And for the people, you guys can do a lot that we animals can't. You can pray, whatever that exactly means. You can type really well and use phones and computers and stuff. Just be there.

       "And the tree was happy..."

       "Sunny"