Ever since we became pen pals, Julien has sent me strange things. Once, she sent her sneeze in a jar. ("I have a cold, can you tell?" she wrote. ) Then she sent her fingerprint. ( "So you'll recognize me in a crowd.") Julien sent me breakfast, all right: cornflakes. Soggy, milky, grainy, crumbly, limp cornflakes scraped from the bottom of her cereal bowl. I lost my appetite, but I read the letter.
Dear Caitlin, These cornflakes were so nutritious that, wanted to share this high-fiber, low-sodium, just-three-calories, balanced breakfast with you. Enjoy, Julien P. S. Next week I'm sending you a sunset, | "She's mistaken," I told my mom. " No one can send a sunset, not even Julien. It's impossible." "I don't know," Mom said."Julien might find a way. After all, she did send you her sneeze. A week later I checked the mail and found a box with air holes and the words "FRAGILE-THIS SIDE UP" printed in bold black letters on the top. It was from Julien. I stroked the box with my fingers. It was perfectly dry. I smelled it. It didn't smell. I held my breath and started opening the package. What if sunbeams spring out and hit me in the face like those fake snakes in a can; I thought? My hands shook as I lifted the last flap and peeked inside. Where in the world was the sunset? All I could find was a letter and a twisty, gray, papery shell. It looked like a submarine. I read the letter.
Dear Caitlin, The sunsets at my house are so beautiful that I had to give you a piece. I counted at least five different colors in one yesterday. Can you find more? Hugs and smoochies, Julien | I looked again at the gray shell. That's no sunset, I thought. "You must mean the submarines at your house, Julien," I said. Without reading the postscript, I laid the letter and the submarine on the kitchen table. Then I left the room to find a pen so that I could cross out "sun-set" and write "submarine" above it. When I returned, I stared in shock at the submarine. A creature was oozing out of it! Was it a sea monster? I looked closer. It was a winged creature... an insect... a butterfly. An orange, blue, purple, red, and gold butterfly. It looked like... a sunset! While the sunset opened and closed its wings to dry them, I read Julien's postscript. It said, "P. S. Next week I'm sending you Japan." |