Steve

Dear Sister,

We are all well and assume you are, although we have no postcard, no letter, no note of any kind to let us know so. The twins are so excited about Halloween. They are goin trick or treating, and on to a party with their friend, Kayla Darnel. She is as tall as a door. She’s goin as, ‘The Cat in the Hat’ and Harla and Darla are going as ‘Thing One and Thing Two’. I thought it an odd choice at first, but was thrilled when I realized they could wear old leotards they already had and I could just rat the peewaddin out of their hair.

I think Kayla Darnel is a bit odd. Harla and Darla just hang on every word she says. I think she has acted peculiar ever since her Momma died. You know it happened while Kayla was at school one day. Her Momma had some kind blood clot or aneurysm on her brain, while she was settin on the commode. Well, when little Kayla got home from school she found her Momma dead as a doorknob, still settin on the toilet, all black in the face and still holdin the readers digest in her hand. You know that would have to do somethin to a person. Scar em for life or somethin even worse.

I saw, one time, that Harla and Darla had been playin over there one afternoon, and their little dolls had hangmen’s nooses around their necks. They said Kayla had been playin executioner. Another time she cut up a good ‘Madame Alexander’ Baby Doll, playin operation. They said she was performing surgery on her like she had seen on the operation channel on cable T.V. That little Kayla girl never looks you right in the eye when you’re talkin to her, and she’s always hummin this sad little mournful tune in a minor key. It’s downright spooky.

There was talk of her going to live with an Aunt, in Little Rock. Her Daddy told Lester and me that Harla and Darla have been so good for her that he would never send her away now. I just hope she dudn't turn my kids into full-blown nut cases in the bargain.

Did I tell you she wears her dead Momma's clothes? At first it was just for play. But there was this one tacky cocktail dress that she wore for two weeks straight. She would change into it the minute she got home from school, and they would have to peel her out of it when she fell asleep in it. She used to wear her hair in two long Indian braids down her back. Her momma would unbraid em at night and braid em back up every mornin with bow ribbons to match her outfits.

Well girl, the Monday after her Momma's Funeral, when she came back to school, they was havin show and tell. When it got her turn, she went up to the front and said her new haircut was her show and tell, because when they buried her Momma on Saturday, she snipped off her braids and slipped them into her Momma's casket with her. Harla said that all the kids just looked at the floor and the teacher started cryin. He said he had never heard of anything so beautiful and sad before in all his teaching days.

Harla and Darla said he cried when they watched that Helen Keller movie, with Miss Patty Duke, and he cries whenever they listen to classical music in class. I think he’s a little light in his loafers. You know he’s about 38 and he’s never married.

I better go girl; I’ve still got popcorn balls to make, caramel apples to dip, and a candy corn cake to decorate. I have had so much fun this week wearin my "Boo!" sweatshirts and my skeleton earrings, my pumpkin jumpsuit, and black-cat sweater. I had forgotten what a fantastic seasonal wardrobe I had accumulated.

You be good now and have fun. Whatever you do, and whoever you end up doin it with, remember we love you, anyway.