Writing Exercises from Serving up a Story

The Letter

The objective here is to create a letter that two characters will read. For one it will bring joy, for the other, the exact opposite.

Lucy was ecstatic when she received the letter. The letter was a notice of Germany's surrender and that her family had been found alive in the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp and could return home as soon as they were well enough to travel. She couldn't wait to see them again. They had been captured about a year and a half ago towards the end of the war. The chances that they were still alive and had survived the brief visit to the notorious death camp were slim but, If anyone had been optimistic about their chances it was Lucy, because well, that's just the way she was.

Jackson read the letter and was happy for Lucy and that her family was okay, but for him, the news wasn't going to be a happy ending. He had wanted his family safe as well, but to ensure such a thing deals had to be made. It had cost him his entire family's savings as well as the locations of other families that were in hiding. Had he known then that his future soulmate was related to the Feldman's, he never would have given them up to the nazis. How could he have possibly known that it was her mother's maiden name? Now it was simply a matter of time before she would find out what he had done. Her family would know because he had to accompany the Germans on the raid and personally identify the family in hiding. It was their way to ensure that Jackson was not lying to them.