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Veronica LaRue Speaks
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SAMANTHA ANNE MALLORY has a knack for digging up old family secrets. At 16, as she roots around in the cupboard for a snack, she finds a yellowed envelope, dated January 1, 1917, and addressed to Kat O'Toole, Samantha's grandmother, now known "Nana." Hungrily, Sam reads the letter, but Veronica's lovely script raises more questions than it answers:
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Illustration: "Samantha Drowning"
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My Dearest Kat, How I have missed you this New Year holiday! I can barely stand being without you, but Mother said I had to spend this holiday with our Bacon cousins.
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Whilst I am being treated well, I yearn for the ones I love, even young Jonathan, that errant sibling of mine. The Bacons send their Love & Sincere greetings (Did you receive their Christmas letter?) And your Gertie sends her big sisterly love and says she is doing well at Davidson's, having sold much perfume and jewelry during the Christmas season.
Even as I miss you, I am enamored of the big city. Sioux City is so much alive; I have even gone riding in a flivver, officially called a "Ford Model T."
The Bacons are very well connected; the flivver belongs to the Connolly's, owners of a commercial bakery, Connolly's and Sons.
They are involved in every aspect of Sioux City society. I do not like the smell of the stockyards, but I have been told by a certain young man (more on him later) that one adjusts to it. He says, "Think of it as the smell of money."
Oh, Kat, you would absolutely love it here. Auntie June says, what with the war in Europe, jobs for young women are plentiful. One needs only a 10th grade education to find an excellent secretarial position in a good firm. Jobs go begging because young men not at war are seeking factory jobs in Detroit and back East, doing hard labor, and earning much "mazuma" (new word for your vocabulary = money, in case you could not figure it out). Young women take the office jobs and then leave after six months or so to get married.
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My love, you will be 17 in less than a year! Let's think about moving here and getting an apartment together. We can find jobs at the same firm, perhaps, or at least ones close to each other.
We can earn much mazuma and be special sisters for the rest of our lives–or at least until we meet that someone special. I look so forward to our cuddling under the covers at night. How I yearn for your warmth on these cold winter nights.
Speaking of young men, I met one Chas. M. (same as previous page) at a party; he is somewhat shy but very handsome. He could be the one...but I am being foolish and very brash; I have only known him three days. You would like him. Maybe he has a brother or friend.
But, dearest, before you can think about young men, you must do something about your weight. Please do not misunderstand, my sweet cousin, you are not, by any definition, corpulent, but at the Christmas Eve Party, I noticed that you are tending toward plumpness. Whilst it is somewhat charming on a sweet 16-year-old girl who is yet to be interested in young men, a young eligible woman needs to care for her "temple." Gertie has discovered a new diet, and she has lost over 20 pounds on it. She looks wonderful! I will tell you all about it when I see you next week.
Do not hide your great beauty under rolls of corpulence! You are so fortunate to have inherited that lovely thick red O'Toole hair, stunning cheekbones, and those wonderful green eyes. I know not where I have inherited my dark complexion, hair, and eyes–Mother says my strange characteristics come from my father's French side (oh, those LaRues), but that rogue brother of mine has been of late calling me "Jigger," in reference to a rather cruel word having to do with the Negro race.
I must close now; Chas. is taking me out for a carriage ride, and I must get ready. I will be home soon, probably by the time you receive this!
With Much Affection & Love, All for the Glory of God, Your Veronica
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SAMANTHA has uncovered a mystery, but she dare not ask her Nana about the shadowy Veronica, a name long taboo in the Mallory family.
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The above excerpt appears in the story "For the Glory of God," which can be found in "Are You EVER Going to be Thin?" (and other stories), now available from InfinityPublishing.com. Please click HOME for more details!
To view the Table of Contents for "Are You EVER Going to be Thin?" (and other stories), please click STORIES (below).
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