Sahm I Am. Meredith Efken

you so much for letting me be part of your chat group last night and including me in your e-mail alias. You have no idea how badly I am in need of friendship right now. Jonathan and I have been married only about eighteen months, and we moved about six months ago to Kellom, Wisconsin, where we pastor a small town church. It’s Jonathan’s first church, and he’s been very busy trying to get acclimated. Plus, Bennet was born a month after we moved, so I have been far too exhausted to socialize much. I’ve met few women my age, and those I have become acquainted with seem to have little in common with me except for our children. As much as I love Julia and Bennet, I simply don’t want to spend all my free time talking about them. Chatting with you last night was the first opportunity I’ve had in a long time to step out of my roles as pastor’s wife or preschoolers’ mom, and simply be ME. Jonathan was teasing me last night about how I was sitting in front of the computer and suddenly bursting out laughing. But even he remarked that laughter was something he’d missed hearing from me. He thanks you, too. You’ve been quite a blessing to our little family, even though we’ve never actually met. I just wanted to say how grateful I am.

      Love,

      Phyllis

From:	Dulcie Huckleberry <[email protected]>
To:	“Green Eggs and Ham”
Subject:	Re: Thank You

      Phyllis, that’s the sweetest letter I’ve ever gotten! Hey, girls, why haven’t WE ever been so nice to each other? :) I think we need to keep Phyllis around, just to teach us some manners. In all seriousness, Phyllis, we enjoyed chatting with you, too. We’d be glad to be your friends.

      Love,

      Dulcie

From:	Jordan and Becky <[email protected]>
To:	Thomas Huckleberry <[email protected]>
Subject:	I JUST GOT A BOX IN THE MAIL!

      A WHOLE BOXFUL OF ROMANCE NOVELS! There’s like sixty of them—and all with titles like Sweet Surrender and Fires of Love. And the covers—yikes! AND IT CAME FROM YOU, THOMAS ALEXANDER HUCKLEBERRY! FROM YOUR OFFICE IN KANSAS CITY! I want an explanation!

      And I want it…now.

      Becky

      P.S. Heard from mom that Dulcie gave you a black eye—what happened, she find out that you copied that note?

From:	Thomas Huckleberry <[email protected]>
To:	Jordan and Becky <[email protected]>
Subject:	The Box

      Just calm down. I can explain. Okay, you know the secretary I borrowed that book from? Well, she was so excited about the idea of a male reading romance novels that she brought an entire box of her old ones from home and gave it to me at work! Didn’t even seal the box, so all the guys I’m working with saw what was inside. I got a razzing like I’ll never forget. They were grabbing the books and reading passages to me in high breathy voices, acting like a bunch of junior-highers. It was pathetic.

      So what was I supposed to do? I didn’t dare try to explain what had really happened, because I’d never be able to show my face there again. And I couldn’t tell them that Dulcie wanted those books—talk about emasculating. So I told them that my sister reads those sort of novels, and that’s why Kelly gave me the box. But they wouldn’t stop giving me a hard time until I actually sealed up the box, addressed it and mailed it to you. Then, with the holiday and all, I must have forgotten to tell you about it. I’m really sorry! Send them to the library or thrift store or something.