17 Farney Rd.
Arnold, MD 21012
December 24, 2018
Dear Ms. Van Antwerp,
Thank you for your note regarding Lonesome Dove. It seems that book has meant something to a good many people, and in ways I didn’t even forsee, but I will say there was something in your letter I thought was interesting, that hurting my characters takes courage. That was interesting.
You’re right what you said about the trouble it is to make it through life, but here we are, so I guess we’ve outsmarted something. I’m sure you’re not as old as me, though. My bookstore is really more of a book town. If you do end up visiting, let me know, and I’ll be sure to meet you in person.
All the best, and Merry Christmas,
Larry
January 21, 2019
Dear Theodore,
Thank you for trimming the high bushes for me yesterday. Your height is a tremendous asset.
As I mentioned to you a few weeks ago, I had broken things off with Mick. He was a bit much, and possessive, needing to be married. Imagine, needing to be married again at our ages. And he much older than myself. It is such a relief! I would havehatedliving in Texas.
In other news, I booked my flight to London. (First class! I have all this money—from people dying, no great accomplishment of my own.) I’ll see Fiona for a week or so. She is going to take me up to see Oxford, and then onto the Yorkshire moors, which is where Emily Brontë setWuthering Heights, and then she’ll drive me north to Fort William to meet Hattie and the brothers. She’s become very supportive of the madness. I’ll leave at the end of April. If it goes well, if I find I enjoy moving about the world like a cavalier twentysomething, I wonder what would you think of taking a trip? With me, I mean, of course. I’ve always had a secret wish to see Paris.
In the meantime, more reasonable plans: it’s been years since I went to the National Symphony, and I understand they are putting on Carmina Burana in late February. Would you take me?
Warm regards,
Sybil
January 27, 2019
My dear Sybil,
We didn’t address this when we were together last night, but just to say, I would be honored to accompany you to Paris.
Yours,
Theodore
Rosalie Van Antwerp
33 Orange Lane
Goshen, CT 06756
April 29, 2019
Dear Rosalie,
I’m off! Leaving tomorrow first thing. Bruce will drop me at the airport in Washington. I have a few hours to wait there before the flight leaves for London. I am a nervous wreck, but as I buzz around the house there is nothing I’ve left undone. I washed the windows and scalded the kitchen drain with vinegar and water. Trash cans are empty. Sheets on all beds are clean and pressed. My first time out of the country, and at seventy-nine years old! I’ll be sure to write—
Syb
Postscript: You should have a heavy box arriving at your doorstep in a few days. It’s all the letters. Every last one, beginning with the ones from when we were girls. I hope you will piece the decades-long story back together. Who knows, maybe you could sell the thing, although, as you said, I’m not sure anyone but us would find it interesting. It should be quite a tome by this point. Theodore had to lift the box to the counter at the post office.
Mr. Theodore N. Lübeck
