My Dearest Naomi by Jerry, Tina Eicher

sewing this morning, so I’m in the house alone at the moment. I doubt if I’ll go tonight to the youth gathering unless I feel a lot better. Tomorrow Mom, Rosanna, Betsy, and I want to go to Bloomington to shop at a neat little dry goods store. The reason is that Elena Marshall has wanted to take us for some time. She says she loves to go down there. It’s supposed to be something awesome.
    Mom asked this morning, “Do you think you can go tomorrow if you feel so bad?”
    I replied, “I’m going regardless how I feel.”
    Always remember
I love you,
    Naomi

October 7
My beloved Naomi,
    I arrived home from school, took a long jog, and am sitting here writing to you still sweaty. I was greatly pleased and very surprised to find one of your wonderful letters waiting for me. I plopped right down to read it without cleaning up. I was hoping all day for a letter, but I tried to keep my hopes down because I thought another one probably wouldn’t come until Friday at the earliest.
    It means so much to me that you enjoyed the weekend. I told Lonnie to blow the horn when we went past. They both laughed at me because I was staring out of the truck window at your place. I’m sure I saw you inside the house, and that memory, along with the one of seeing you walk into the house as I was leaving on Sunday evening, still lingers in my mind.
    On the way home we stopped in Peoria to go to the home office of the company that makes Lonnie’s freedom phone. It’s the kind of phone that works like a CB radio, and Lonnie’s has been broken for some time. There’s no one around their area able to fix it. Anyway, we had a hard time finding the phone place, driving all over that huge city. Once we did find them, they sent us someplace else for the repair. We ended up getting lost again and having to turn back a few times before locating it.
    While Lonnie was inside talking with the repair people, I dashed next door to a hardware store for a flashlight purchase. I dropped mine and broke it last weekend when I was home. I’d also been keeping my eye open for a gift shop where I could buy cards because I’m completely out of them. They are very hard to find in our little town. There was no place nearby that sold cards. We did see a shopping mall later with a “Hallmark” sign on one of the stores. Luella spotted it, and Lonnie nearly wrecked as he cut across the lanes to reach the driveway. But we are all still alive, and I am loaded up on cards.
    By that time it was 1:00, so we stopped at a Wendy’s for lunch. I was starving and eagerly gulped down a burger, fries, and Frosty. Yummy, yummy. Lonnie said he had to have two Frostys to get over the fright Luella gave him as she directed him to the driveway for the card store. Luella, of course, claims it wasn’t her fault at all, that she was only pointing toward the store.
    Just think—when you next get a card from me—there was almostbloodshed buying the things. What an awful thought, but I’m feeling right awful at the moment.
    I miss you, 
    Eugene

October 7
My dearest Eugene,
    Mom, Rosanna, Betsy, and I came home from Bloomington at around four this afternoon. We left after five this morning, and my was it a blast! We browsed the stores, bought material, just did this and that and the other. Then we went to Dutch Kitchen for lunch. Betsy and I each ordered a shrimp basket. Betsy managed to eat all of hers, but I couldn’t so I brought mine home and Dad ate the rest. Now he won’t be hungry for supper, but he doesn’t seem to mind. I guess my flu is still not over, as I feel a headache threatening again.
    I should have been smart and stayed away from the youth gathering last night, but I decided to go at the last minute. My flu symptoms weren’t too bad while we played volleyball. Especially with Don and Joseph Miller playing beside me. Don can be a real cutup, and he kept me laughing with his wisecracks.
    We girls went inside early, but the host family offered nothing to eat