I wrote a letter the other day, just a quick note to an old friend in Kansas recovering from a bump on the head. Told her I had had the strangest dream — and she was in it! And she was wearing the cutest red shoes.
I added a few more lines, and then because I didn’t have the Gales’ home address, I e-mailed it to LettersWithCharacter@gmail.com If you want to read it, it’s posted at http://LettersWithCharacter.blogspot.com , along with other readers’ letters to Captain Ahab, Hercule Poirot and Dr. Watson, among others. You’re welcome to send in your letters, too.
Obviously, this “Interactive Literary Environment,” in which real people write letters to fictional characters, is all in good fun. Harper Perennial came up with the campaign to publicize its June release of What He’s Poised to Do, a collection of linked short stories by Ben Greenman about how letters function in life as well as in fiction.
Before I decided to write Dorothy, I considered penning a letter to Mr. D’Arcy letting him know of my current single status, but that man has more matches than e-harmony, plus he’s married. Inspector Adam Dalgliesh is only engaged, so I was going to tell him to get a clue that Emma isn’t the right woman for him, but he’s awfully moody. I wondered if Scout Finch needed a new BFF, and if maybe Lassie would come home to my house. But Dorothy hasn’t been well, and besides, maybe she’ll write back and tell me where she got those darling shoes.
On a Clear Day I Can Read Forever 
I am going to visit Monroeville (Maycomb) this weekend, and Mary Badham (Scout) is going to be there to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of To Kill a Mockingbird, so I’ll ask her if she needs a new BFF, since Dill is in a pickle. (Sorry, couldn’t resist.) You know I’m somehow distantly related to Atticus Finch, et al, by marriage, right?
Darlyn… I am PEA GREEN with envy. I can’t believe I have to spend the weekend at a 60th. birthday party… dressed in sweaty polyester yet!
I am taking a road trip next month– to Brooklyn– but won’t be going through Alabama. Promise you’ll make another trip to Monroeville… with me in the car?
xoxo
Jim
But of course! Enjoy your visit w/kin. When I was little, I looked like Mary Badham’s twin.
Dear Dr. Lecter,
Thank you for your letter from prison; I can understand your need to establish contact with the outside world, but for the life of me I can’t figure out who you are. Your name does ring the proverbial bell… perhaps I saw you on Jepardy or– heavens!– Wheel of Fortune?
Living out here in the sticks as I am, far from any electronic devices such as have been foisted upon the human race since the day Franklin flew his kite, I have no way to determine who you might be; and the nearest library is a thousand miles away.
But to address the main question in your brief letter: yes, there are accommodations available in this remote area. There are plenty of abandoned farmsteads scattered about. In fact, I myself moved into one a few years ago– it’s amazing how a little Contact paper and a few yards of ball fringe manage to dress up a place!
If you like hunting, there is plenty of wild game in the nearby forests. I happen to have a large stock of instruments and tools necessary to the craft and you would be free to borrow anything you like.
Good luck with your incarceration– remember, every day that dawns is a day closer to youyr release! One foot in front of the other, as I always say…
Sincerely,
Your new neighbor
Jim, I hope you sent this to LettersWithCharacters@gmail.com Just be sure to include author, title and fictional character, and use your name. It’s hilarious, although I’m surprised you didn’t invite him for dinner! Or maybe he’ll invite you….
: ) I will !
I didn’t think of the dinner aspect… see how naive I REALLY am ?