Free Dear Papa by Anne Ylvisaker

are you? I am fine. I have some new friends. You would like them, too. They live in a haunted house. I am going to get another brother or sister. Do you see my Aunt Jaye and Uncle Bernard? Do you play with Sue Joan Warick or any of the other kids from school? What about LeRoy Pence? Are there any more stars in the windows on Grandview?
    From,
    Isabelle
    July 21, 1944
    Dear Aunt Izzy,
    We found one of Mr. Right’s cat toys under Ian’s bed. We will save it here for your next visit, which I hope will be soon. How much does it cost to ride the train? Maybe I could come and visit you in California. I will wait for an invitation, though. I am sure it would be educational to visit another state. I could help you plant a victory garden. We are working hard on ours. The corn is up to my waist almost. The visit will have to be after July, though, because we are pretty busy playing with the girls at the corner house, the one with all the vines. We are turning their third floor into our clubhouse. The Chatty Pigtails is the name of our club. Ian doesn’t have a pigtail but he can join anyhow. If you would like to send us a postcard, we will put it on the clubhouse wall. Mama is going to write a note to you on the back of my letter. Bye!
    Isabelle
    July 23, 1944
    Dear Irma,
    Have you forgotten us? Mama is going to have a baby. Inez is signed up for college at St. Catherine’s. It is okay, she says, because Mr. Frank (who’s really Dr. Frank) is Catholic. Are you going to go to college? I am not so much of a crybaby as you remember from before we moved. Ida is, though. Ian is as tall as me and has bigger feet. How about you?
    Your sister (but not in the nun way!),
    Isabelle
    August 1, 1944
    Dear Papa,
    Mr. Frank smokes a pipe. It is his birthday so we gave him a new pipe. Mama gave us the money and we took the streetcar downtown like the old days. She told us right where to find one and we did. He is really Dr. Frank. But I am used to Mr. Frank by now.
    From,
    Isabelle
    August 13, 1944
    Dear Papa,
    Mama is getting a big belly under her dress. Big enough that people at church know she has a baby under there. We haven’t been to church in a long time, but we went back this week.
    “Hold your head high, smile, and don’t give out unnecessary details,” Mama told us on the way there. She walked us clear up to the fourth row, where everyone could stare at the back of our heads. I liked it when you used to lead us into the back pew. “Easy in, easy out,” you said, and you were right. From the front rows it is not easy out. We had to creep up the aisle afterward, talking to every busymind. I held my head so high my neck hurts. My face hurts from smiling. Mama shared the basics of her story with all the ladies. Remarried, enjoying life on Mississippi River Boulevard, looking forward to the little Christmas present. Just enough there to keep Beverly’s mother filling in the details for weeks. I hope we don’t do that again soon! What will happen if we keep not going to church, though?
    From,
    Isabelle
    August 15, 1944
    Dear Papa,
    I think Mama doesn’t want to go back to church anymore. I heard her ask Mr. Frank what it would take to get us all changed to Catholic.
    So today I started Lutheran lessons for Ian and Ida. I heard about purgatory from Eleanor and I don’t want us floating around space for years waiting to see you. I brought the Luther’s Small Catechism from Aunt Jaye to our clubhouse at Sylvia, Betty, and Shirley’s. They don’t have one Bible in the house so I brought over one of ours. No one will miss it, as it was very dusty on the top shelf. They don’t go to any church at all so they are in on the lessons, too.
    Maybe Mr. Frank is the wolf in sheep’s clothing that Pastor Grindahl was talking about in last Sunday’s sermon. Maybe the Catholics sent him to get another family for their church. I gave him back the rosary beads and reminded him that we are Lutheran.
    Don’t worry. We will be ready to stand up