Free How to Start a Fire by Lisa Lutz

like—in person, by telephone, theatrical performance, PowerPoint presentation. I know that nothing will ever be enough, but I can do better than this. I hope you can forgive me for some of these things.
Love,
Anna
     
    During their entire friendship, George often felt like Anna owed her an apology, but mostly for crimes so small she would have felt foolish asking for one. Anna rarely took out the trash, she never returned a CD to its case, and she
always
left just an inch of milk in the carton. There was something about this particular apology that was too big and sweeping for George. She began to wonder about Anna’s other transgressions, the ones she didn’t know about. She figured there were plenty. Still, Anna was certainly paying for her mistakes.
     
TO : Anna Fury
FROM : George Leoni
A,
Thanks for the note. It matters. But it was all a long time ago. It would be nice to try to forget.
Here’s a picture of my oldest animal.
G
     
    George included a photo of Carter, now four, hanging precariously from a tree branch. George wrote to Kate right after she responded to Anna.
     
TO : Kate Smirnoff
FROM : George Leoni
K,
I guess Anna is at some step of recovery that involves making amends. I think she’s really trying this time. And the apology I’ve hoped for has seemed to change over the years.
Have you heard from her? When are you coming home? This road trip of yours, I don’t like it.
G
     
    Kate no longer attempted any longhand correspondence with George, who insisted that there was no point in communicating with someone if you could not actually decipher the communication. So their exchanges were reduced to telegram-length communiqués.
     
TO : George Leoni
FROM : Kate Smirnoff
George,
Yes, I have heard from her. I haven’t replied yet, but I’ll get around to it. I do think this time is different.
As for my road trip, I’ll be back when my business is done.
Kate
     
    It was George’s e-mail that finally prompted Kate to respond to Anna. She was waiting for Anna to figure out the one apology that mattered, but maybe Anna would never uncover it on her own. Anna saw her life before recovery as one big error and she’d apologized for all of it. If Kate wanted a specific apology, she would have to ask.
    When Anna got the letter from Kate, it was the first time she’d heard from her in almost six months. The postmark on the envelope was Bismarck, North Dakota, and the note was written on stale stationery from a Motel 6. If Anna had one gripe about hearing from her, it was the same gripe everyone had: Kate’s unruly script made her letters as comprehensible as redacted government documents.
     
Anna,
I got your letters. And thanks. I was tthrslnfl for a while, but I’m jhkemmn now. I know it’s part of your iewrnc to kwejreoiej the past. But do we need to ojerfg? I hope you’re doing okay. And that living with your qwewq isn’t werhwje your khwevv. It would pkloij with mine. Seems like there has to be vcffhgj way. Let me know how you’re doing. How you fill your days.
Have you heard about the hhumsltond of the wekjrlg Bkersg? I, for one, am kerqpmm. How do you go your whole life being a slwwsf and then, suddenly, you’re not a slwwsf anymore. Correction: ewjrop. What does that even mean? I see an msqqprm taking lllqwec. Five, ten years from now, when someone gets wkppmvma or wjeojroj his or her job, people will say, “He was looenowejn.” “Are you lejworjmv me?” someone will say when witnessing a kihywghf. “That was some olejpwejr, wasn’t it?” Hmm, I’m not sure about the ppajkkd of the last one, but I think you get the yurjs.
Do you think I should write NASA?
I’ve been hearing things about the Nriierh mwp and I’ve been thinking I should see that, just so I can be that person who tells you one wlero isn’t so different from the next. I might kwerk and seek ewrkpwer. I’ll write more soon.
Kate
     
    Anna pored over Kate’s letter for at least an hour, but the fading ink of the