Come Back To Us - 13. Chapter 13

Dear Karl,

We are all doing well despite the bombings. None of us has been wounded yet, Thank God for it.
As long as each of us is all right, we can take it. But I am afraid that they will keep doing this for quite some time… And yes, we are still living at my parents’s for the time being. Oh my dear, this is so sweet of you. But we will find a new home before you can go back to see us, hopefully. It would be a wonderful surprise, wouldn’t it ? A brand new house. The symbol of a promise for a brighter future.
We miss you too dearly. There is not a day that goes by when we do not think of you.
The days seem to be so long to us without you. It feels like we are no longer a complete family without you.

Oh my poor sweet boy… This is a good thing to create bonds with people who are going through the same thing as you, but of course the pain can’t be helped…But don’t forget that you will always be stronger together. This Jørgen boy seems to be a very fine young man. Keep him close. One good and reliable friend is much better than twenty of people who will let you down when the times get rough. Learning from each other is the best thing we can get in human relationships.
This officer must be a very fine man as well. I am so proud of you! I could never find enough words to tell you how much I am happy for you. The mere fact of knowing I am reading your own letter and seeing your own writing, it fills me with a kind of joy that can compare to nothing else. I knew you could do it. But you know, I did not do much. Your success was not my doing. You are a fast learner. I know your family will be so proud of you too when they learn you can write and learn Danish. I only taught you the basics, which was necessary for your understanding.

And that’s okay if you prefer writing short letters, as long as we know that you are alright, the rest does not matter. You don’t need to have hundreds of things to tell us. We are happy just to hear from you.

And don’t say that you are not good at this, that’s totally fine. You are good for plenty of other things. We don’t ask from you to become a poet. You re perfect the way you are, literary or illiterate. You will always be our little Danish lad.

I know that you don’t want us to worry for you, but we cannot help it. This is problem when one gets attached to someone. We worry about them and only to protect them from any kind of possible hurt. Which mother would possibly let her son go to war when he has a choice ?
I know you did it out of love and selflessness. And I can only respect your decision and admire you for your courage and determination, but I never feel safe as long as you are not near me. I just…I just don’t want you to become like Robert…It is good to see that you are growing up to become a fine man, but my heart ache at the thought that you will never be the same boy that we used to know or even that you might die…You cannot win alone against a whole system.

I know, Dear. I know. I know it all too well. I breaks my heart too and keeps me awake at night. But you dying or being left mentally damaged forever will not help you bring them back to life. Think about it. No matter all the efforts you will make, there will always be death everywhere. Even if several nations are united against others; war only makes victims on both sides. Love can be selfish sometimes. We think it is selfless and that it should stay this way, but I don’t quite agree with that statement. Well, there is an ambiguous undertone hiding deep in its core, which is a bit contradictory, I think…

And I’d like you to keep this in mind. Even if you can’t save the world, even the smallest action you make will be never be useless or meaningless. We are only human beings. There are just things that we cannot prevent from happening due to our condition. This is how cruel life is, and we should simply learn to accept it, even if it is hard…

And none of those men you have met so far might look scared. But that’s most likely because they have learnt to hide it so well. It is so easy to act as if everything were alright and pretend to be someone you are not, but so much harder to face your own fears and tame them, believe me.

We would love to come and visit you, but indeed I am afraid we can’t…If we could, we would have already come to see you a while ago! Well, about Arthur, I couldn’t tell you; it’s been so long since the last time I saw him. He has never been the kind of outgoing, cheerful and teasing person like Paul is, but that’s what makes their friendship so beautiful, how complementary they are, like water and earth. But I think he will be too busy to take our calls, so this is nice of you if you could write to us little bit about him.

And by the way, no need to thank me for the food, we have got enough for us, you and people around us who need it the most, at least for now…Many gardens that had been growing in several parks have been destroyed, just like mine in our former house, but I am glad I can count on other women’s help to create new ones in safer places. And I want you to keep sharing it with your friend. You deserve it.

May our love keep you safe and sane from all the horrors you might have to face in the future.

Margaret, Robert and Paul.

P.S. If we are lucky enough, Emma and Paul will gift us with a wonderful baby next year. And you will be his/her godfather of course.

The yellowing paper was bending smoothly under the weight of Karl’s fingers as the Danish youth was trying to figure out the neatly written words. He could read their names well now at least.

He read it over and over again and it seemed that the more he was reading the words, the more meaningless they became to him as if they were just some kind of scribbling that were just made to fill the paper, to make it useful.

To fill the void that would make our lives meaningless without it. Find something to say, to do, or else everything would be still, quiet. Frightening. What would human beings be doing there on Earth if they had no purpose to fill?

But many people have already died. They were killed mercilessly. Was it their purpose on this earth? Die because of constant bombings while they hadn’t asked anything ?

And what was his own purpose on Earth? Remaining a peasant all his life like his whole family? Having to go through the worst things so he could realise life at the familial farm wasn’t so bad in comparison to that? Or was it to die like all of those people ?

He had no idea. He had to focus back on the words.

If he had to die, then death would have to wait. There were so many things he needed to do and figure out before he left this world.

Things that would be meaningless once he was dead, but which he still needed to do while he was still alive.

Such was the inconsistency of life, and he felt nothing could be done about it.

Hello everyone!
Finally here's is Margaret's answer to Karl's letter 😊
Have a good day/evening/night and take care ❤️