The Final Chapter

I apologize for the language in this story. While I have no problem with a well placed expressive four-letter-word, my excessive usage only cheapens a story which could have been told just as completely using non offensive words. I hope to repair it soon.

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Several of you asked who "the boy" this story is dedicated really is, and if he was Tobey. In one way he is, in another he isn't. When you hear my story I think you'll understand where he came from.

That random phone call really did happen. I answered my friend's phone to find a lonely, homesick soldier on the other end. I have never met him, but I do know that he is home safely even though he relives things he saw overseas every day.

Quite separately from that, one of my favorite aunts passed away. At her funeral I learned how she had written to her brothers every day during the duration of the Korean War, telling them the simple happenings in her young girl life. "Today we visited Aunt Helen. I got an 100 on my math test." When her brother finished speaking a young man stood up and told how my aunt had continued writing long after her brothers were home. He talked about how her letters gave him strength and encouragement just knowing someone at home cared. I wept and wept, amazed at this woman who I thought I knew. How could I honor her? How could I be even half the woman that she was?

So I began writing. Just a simple letter here and there that described daily common things in life. It was months later when I heard from "Tobey." The first letters were difficult to write. It was hard to find the right words without being too personal or too distant, but the longer we wrote the more comfortable it became. No romance. Just friendship. I had hoped to meet him when he returned home in the spring.

But he won't be coming home.

It's a little ironic. I'm not completely sure yet what I believe but I think I'm a pacifist. So, why all these stories "supporting" war. Why am I encouraging you to write letters? It's because I'm supporting peace. I'm supporting one individual "Tobey" or "Davin" or "Mark" who might not have anyone else to care about them. There are lots of them out there. It shouldn't be too hard to find one... write a letter to honor "Tobey."

God bless us all, everyone.

Miss K Ree

P.S. rest in peace