Dear Tangee

The assignment, many years ago, was to write a "Dear John" letter. We had ten minutes. Unable to write as directed, I took another tack and wrote the following. Then I found that I wanted to know and write more about these characters. Dozens of short stories and a great number of snippets followed, and within a few years there was an eighty thousand word novel. In the book, Buck is not near as much a Sad Sack as he is here. Funny how things get started.


Dear Tangee,
Your absence since this past November has made me sad. It has also made me wonder; have you left me for good or are you just gone for a long time? Maybe you are doing something you forgot to mention to me, or maybe you told me and I forgot. Probably I forgot. You left some Spring clothes here and I took that as a sign to expect you, maybe by April. April was four months ago so I guess I shouldn't make that much of a sign out of one dress and a pair of shorts. If you had left for good you would have written a note, wouldn't you? You would have left a note right here on our note pad thing by the phone which, by the way you haven't even called me on yet.
I just went down to the Seven-Eleven for some Pepsi and I'll be back in about half an hour. If you're not here, it's okay...next time I go out I'll leave you another note then. Just like this one now. Just like the one I wrote yesterday. There's cold 7-Up in the fridge for you. See you later.
Buck