When Rachael left the room I took the letter I had dictated and put it out on the bed next to me, then took the pad of paper and held it on the bed next to the letter. I knelt down to write on the pad in front of me. This is how I copied the letter to Grandmother.

Dear Jennifer,

I miss you very much. Dad says I wont be able to see you now. Today we had fun but I got in trouble. So I have been punished and won’t be able to see you. That’s O.K. though because I can go out and meet you on the path from Paraggi to Portofino tonight at eleven o’clock right up on the top of the path by the wall.

Love,
Calvin

This way my letter to Jennifer was spelled right. So far the idea Mary gave me was working out fine.

Because I was not going to let laziness spoil my plan I copied out the real letter to Grandmother too in case Mom asked about it. And sure enough a few minutes later she came in and said, “Rachael told me about how thoughtful you’re being writing to grandmother. That’s wonderful, she’ll be so blessed by it.” I held out the letter and Mom said she’d get an envelope and stamps at the front desk and post it. Then she hugged me and said, “I’m sorry all that unpleasantness happened today; perhaps your father was a little harsh. I’ll speak to him about it.”

“You’d better not, Mom. Not in the Mood he’s in and all.”

She hugged me again and kissed my cheek and said, “Thank you for understanding.”

Suddenly I was filled with love for her and hugged her back. “I love you, Mom.” When she stepped back to take the letter and go she had tears in her eyes and it made me get tears in mine because I knew it must not be easy being my mom. Dad was awful rough on her when he was in a Mood, especially a really bad one like he seemed to have been in on this whole vacation.

There was an hour before supper, which was plenty of time for a fast walk to Paraggi and back. It took about twenty minutes each way.