13 (lucky or unlucky?)
13. The Letter: Write a poem or story using words from a famous letter or inspired by a letter someone sent you. (02/27/2023)
It was the night before Christmas and I had just woken up to work for my night shift. I get into my uniform, chug my red strawberry flavored crystal light drink with 150mg of caffeine, and open the door to get out. As I am stepping out, I hear the noise of paper from the bottom of my feet. It was a red small envelope with some fresh dirt marks matching those of my boots. There were two of them and I left the clean one for my roommate while I kept the dirty one on my left cargo pocket.
After driving to my office, checking my emails, and preparing for the flights coming that night, I ripped open the envelope. I was scared of using my bare hands and ripping the card inside it so I borrowed an exacto blade from the closet room and carefully cut only the top edge of an envelope. After hearing the satisfying sound of a blade smoothly cutting through paper, I took out the card.
“Merry Christmas” it was titled with the moon lit up, snowy valley, pine trees, and a log cabin in the background. Charcoal smoke was coming out the chimney, Christmas light wires were hanging on the roof edges, and the windows were closed yet bright indicating somebody was inside. Perhaps it was a small family enjoying a small oven-cooked turkey, with mashed potatoes, and some cornbread baked on the side. The children were probably fighting over whether to eat or to preserve the newly crafted gingerbread house this morning. Or it could have been just someone spending the Christmas night alone with some cozy warmth from the fireplace, soft cotton blankets covering them on their couch, a hand-made ham sandwich in both hands, chocolate chip cookies and a glass of milk waiting their turn on the stool, and the four-squared glass window providing a beautiful view of the night sky and some trees for a relaxing Christmas night.
I opened the card, and it said “Merry Christmas!” in letters written so big that the two words covered almost the entire card page. There was no sender address or name. Who I got the card from remains a total mystery. Maybe it came from a local chapel with regular church goers writing Christmas cards for deployed soldiers overseas, maybe it was from a high school student writing it for their volunteering club, maybe it was from a random stranger who decided on a whim to write a card to a random soldier because everyone deserves a Merry Christmas wherever they are.
