[Fiction] A Letter

March 25,

The Middle of Nowhere.

Greetings, my dearest.

I hope this letter reaches you in the best of health - I will worry incessantly if not. I received your letter of the 20th yesterday morning, and it has taken me till now to be able to draft a fitting reply. I will have you know that I laughed, cringed, frowned and smiled at the appropriate places in your letter. Reading it felt like listening to you, it had all your expressions and turns of phrase, and if you had somehow been magically transported here and read it aloud, I would be hard pressed to tell the difference, such is the presence you leave behind in your letters. I was glad to be able to lose myself in the minutiae of your daily life, and felt a warm glow after reading it, as I do with all your letters. I do wonder how you manage to put up with my handwriting though.

I have a story to tell you...something quite interesting happened to me yesterday. I got propositioned, by three different women. In all cases, I smiled gently and pointed to the ring on my left hand, and sort of hinted at the fact that they might have had a chance were I not attached. The truth is that they never would, but I had to let them down gently. Though I am sure they have already seen my wedding band, I point it out to them, just in case, and in order to allow them to save face, for which I am sure they are grateful. One of them hinted that the presence of a wedding ring was not excuse enough, and I had to gently yet not without force make the point that I was unavailable. Poor girl must have been really desperate. My colleagues are both envious that I get such attention, and credulous that I turn such down. Brutes. I hope they don't get married until they grow up.

The end of this dreary project cannot come soon enough; I cannot see it lasting more than 10 days, after which, I'm all yours. I want to make up for being away for so long...I think I'll take you on a trip when I come back - anywhere, your choice. You have from now to decide where we will go - choose wisely! I don't think I need to work for a while after this one, so time is no object. Also, something has been occupying my thoughts recently. I wish to talk to you about this, but I think it is too important for a letter, so I will discuss this when we meet face to face.

This letter, or at most, the next one, should be the last you get before I am able to come home. Till then, I remain...

Yours.