Love,
Rosalie
Rosalie Boyd
679 Holtermann Street
Philadelphia, Pa.
August 1, 1953
Dear Rosalie,
I’m having a fine time at camp even though the cabin where we sleep is filthy and sweltering. I sleep on the bottom bunk and the girl who sleeps above me, Thelma Mariani, shifts endlessly during the night, so I’m always waking up from the shaking and creaking. Some of the girls are OK, but usually I do things by myself or with one of the counselors Danielle, who is a college senior at Smith. I like the weaving and the canoeing. There are some forced group activities, like we played capture the flag a few nights ago, and there was a mystery scavenger hunt thing you had to do with your cabin, and those are the things I’d rather not do, but you are forced to participate. I brought the Space Trilogy (C. S. Lewis) and a bunch of Isaac Asimovs, but I’ll finish those soon. It’s stupid I’m here. If I was at home I could be helping with Felix. I got a letter from my dad yesterday. My mom’s first treatment just finished and he said her hair is falling out and she can’t really get out of bed because she feels so sick and throws up multiple times a day. I think he told me so when I get home I won’t be surprised. Have you seen her? I can’t even picture what she will look like without hair. I dreamed about it, but actually in the dream it was supposed to be her (without her hair) but in my dream it was a bald Doris Day. So that was weird. I’m really worrying about Felix. I miss him. I miss you, too, but I’ll be home on Aug. 22.
Xoxo,
Sybil
Rosalie Boyd
9 Dover Place
Hamden, Conn.
October 24, 1955
Dear Rosalie,
Thanks for your letter. I’m glad you like your new school, and it’s a drag about your chemistry teacher. You would think they would have better things to do than to discover new ways to torment teenagers. How was the dance? Have you seen Lee since? Do youlike himlike him?
Things are OK here. Boring. I didn’t go to our homecoming dance. Nobody asked me and it would have been embarrassing to show up alone. Even NANCY PRUITT had a date (a boy from Belvedere). I cut my hair short. I’m doing some filing in my dad’s office. He’s got a new secretary. See how boring everything is? I’m telling you about my dad’s work staff.
OK, the most interesting thing going on for me is that I wrote a letter to C. S. Lewis and he wrote me back! I was writing asking about if he would write any new worlds, and he said that he couldn’t be sure about that, but that he was always thinking up new things. He told me there will be more books in The Chronicles of Narnia series, and he gave me a couple of hints about what happens! He suggested I read the seriesThe Lord of the Rings, which came out last year and is written by a friend of his, so I bought the first book and I started it last night. It’s excellent so far, much denser than Mr. Lewis’s stories. His letter to me was wonderful. He’s very kind, and you can sort of hear his voice from his novels in his letter-writing voice. I am working on a letter back to him.
What are you reading? Miss you. Write me,
Sybil
Rosalie Boyd
9 Dover Place
Hamden, Conn.
March 1, 1958
Dear Rosalie,
Mom died yesterday. I went home Monday because my dad called up to tell me she was declining suddenly and it was probably time, so I got the bus. It was while she was sleeping. I’m not sure when I’ll go back to school. I might forgo the term. I don’t feel like I can leave Felix. He’s not speaking, not a single word since she died, and he won’t leave my sight. He’d started sleeping in my bed when I went to school, and I can’t coax him out.
The funeral is going to be on Sunday at the church. I hope you can come. I miss you so, so much.
Love,
Sybil
Mrs. Sybil vanAntwerp
