Lesson 1 - Assignment 2

Mr. John Desmond
FPO, 317th Infantry Regiment
New York, NY

Dear Johnny,

By the time you read this, Emily’s funeral will be over. Yes, Johnny, Emily is dead. I don’t know how else to tell you. I knew you would want to know.

Emily never really got over the baby. Besides you, I’m the only other person who knows, and I would never break Emily’s confidence. Emily told me you tried to talk her out of it, but she didn’t want you worrying about her while your life was in danger.

Everyone thinks Emily accidentally fell onto the tracks while trying to retrieve her scarf, but I know better. She was really down in the dumps ever since she came back from that doctor. I tried to cheer her up by taking her for spring break to my house. Just before we left, she got five letters from you. The mail from overseas is terrible. That cheered her some, and I thought everything was going to be okay when we left for the train station.

Something happened while we were waiting, and when we heard the train whistle, Emily stepped off the platform onto the tracks. The doctor said she died instantly.

She loved you, Johnny, and I want to believe you two would have eventually married and lived happily ever after if she had just been able to hang on. I miss her terribly.

Emily’s best friend,

Barb

P.S. I’m enclosing the letters you sent her. Good luck, Johnny