AllMum'sLetters
佚名 / Anonymous
TothisdayIremembermymum’， .
Ididn’tunderstandwhymymumkeptwritingJohnnywhenheneverwroteback.
“Waitandsee—we’llgetaletterfromhimoneday，” .
Idon’tknowifshesaidthattocalmherself， ， .
Ihadalwaysbeenamusedbythefactthatmumsignedherletters， “CeciliaCapuzzi”， andIteasedheraboutthat.“Whydon’tyoujustwrite ‘Mum’？” Isaid.
Ihadn’， thissmalldelicatewoman， whoeveninhigh-heeledshoeswasbarelyoneandahalfmeterstall.
， ’-rimmedpince-nezonlylefthernosewhenshewenttobed.
Whenevermumhadfinishedaletter， ， andwesatdownatthetableandtalkedaboutthegoodolddayswhenourItalian-Americanfamilyhadbeenafamilyoften： mum， ， enrollinthearmy， .
.
Littlebylittletherumouraboutmum’： “Isittrueyouwriteletters？”
“Iwritetomysons.”
“Andyoucanreadtoo？” whisperedthewoman.
“Sure.”
Thewomanopenedherbagandpulledoutapileofairmailletters.“Read...pleasereadthemaloudtome.”
Theletterswerefromthewoman’ssonwhowasasoldierinEurope， ’seyeswelledupwithtears.“NowIhavetowritetohim，” ？
“Makesomecoffee， Octavia，” ， ， shereadtheletteraloudtothewoman.
“HowdidyouknowthatwasexactlywhatIwantedtosay？”
“Ioftensitandlookatmyboys’ letters， justlikeyou， withoutaclueaboutwhattowrite.”
Afewdayslaterthewomanreturnedwithafriend， thenanotheroneandyetanotherone—theyallhadsonswhofoughtinthewar， .
Mumalwaysinsistedthatpeoplesignedtheirownletters， andthesmallwomanwiththegreyhairaskedmumtoteachherhowtodoit.“Isomuchwanttobeabletowritemyownnamesothatmysoncanseeit.” Thenmumheldthewoman’shandinhersandmovedherhandoverthepaperagainandagainuntilshewasabletodoitwithoutherhelp.
Afterthatday， whenmumhadwrittenaletterforthewoman， shesigneditherself， andherfacebrightenedupinasmile.
