I am so much in love I am almost crazy. His name is Malcolm Martin. Charles William fixed me up with him for Homecoming at Tech. They are coming here in twenty hours. I haven’t been asleep in days. Durrell says there are eight people involved in any love affair but he doesn’t tell who they are. Maybe they are all the other boys you liked and the girls they liked. I don’t know who Malcolm liked except this girl I went to camp with named Pepper Allen who is a perfect little angel goody-goody whose grandfather owns Atlanta.

We will all be in Dunleith for Christmas for Irise and Charles William’s wedding and we can tell our stories then. In the meantime stay away from those gray uniforms and write when you have time.

Yours in the western world,
Rhoda

P.S. Later

I’m going crazy waiting for him to get here. I think he won’t like me after all or will think I’m fat or think I’m silly or think my hair is too short or maybe I’ll really get lucky and my face will break out for the first time in my life. I made him this teddy bear out of a cashmere sweater. In short, I am in love. More later. Don’t let the bastards get you down.

Dearest darling Rhoda,

You want the whole story? He pulled off my underpants and took them home. When he called up to apologize he said he had them in his hand while he was talking on the phone. He said he would be satisfied with the underpants but I said, no, come back over Saturday night and we’ll try it again.

I mean it. I went out with him again. He’s from a really poor family in some town in West Virginia. If he wasn’t playing football he couldn’t even go to school. He’s three inches taller than I am. His hands are very crude and he’s tough looking. He looks like someone your mother would have over to paint the house. His name is Iler. It’s his mother’s maiden name. I’m glad you’re in love. I am too. I can’t write you any more details. They read our mail. They feed us saltpeter in the potatoes but I never eat in the dining room anyway. My parents are still getting a divorce. It will keep my father from ever being on the federal appeals court. My mother did it on purpose because she hates him. She hates me too so I’ll probably go live with him when I get out of school here. Fuck this place. Iler says fuck all the time. I do too. I love to say it. Read between the lines if you want to.

Love,
May Garth

Dear Rhoda,