Dear Desmond (Love Letters 4)

ple here put my worst days to shame.

No lie, one guy thought beating his mom because she took away his Xbox was a good idea. The laughable judge who thought this place was where he belonged should be disbarred.

Fishing—gag!

Hiking—next, please!

Running sounds like a lot of work, too.

Guess I sound like one of these spoiled little pricks, too, huh?

My fault was trying to miss hitting a cat and swerving into a ditch after having one too many energy drinks. In hindsight, I did sound desperate when I begged my father—the asshole judge who decided I needed to be punished—to do a drug test. I wanted to prove he was wrong.

He never believes me, which kind of sucks, ‘cause I used to admire everything about him. He was righteous but had dignity. Now, he’s fat and old and lost his power for the cause.

Reading this over, I guess I just might be one of these bitter assholes after all, who knew?

Peace,

North

I don’t know whether to laugh or scratch my head. I was hoping I’d have some idea of whether North is a guy or a girl; I don’t. The swearing says guy, the printing could go either way, but the admiration for their father could be girl.

Christ, who knew this was going to turn into some sort of algebraic equation? It doesn’t really matter, I guess. But it might help me with figuring out the best way to help this kid.

I always thought that when I joined the Navy, I’d be on a ship. Out at sea, but as overwatch from my position in Spain, I help cover landfall for imported goods in a small middle eastern country barely on the map, but highly volatile when it comes to outsider help.

I wonder if telling North about my travels with the Navy, would possibly inspire them to do something good with their life. Become more than another lonely kid looking for attention?

North,

I don’t know what it is you like to do. Obviously, anything too strenuous is out of the question. And so, I thought you might like to hear about some of my travels, at least?

After I finished training and qualifications, I was assigned to my first unit and sent to Malaysia nearly eight years ago. I enjoyed it. The peacekeeping work we did was interesting. Experiencing how a lesser advantaged country lives was a humbling experience.

I didn’t see a lot of war and fighting back then. It was mostly helping with relief efforts after a typhoon worked its way through the island. There was a smaller landmass close to it that was left untouched—Christmas Island.

Sounds unreal, right?

It is.

It’s mostly a tourist thing with its national park covering the majority of it. I was told there was great snorkeling on the reef, as well.

If I could go anywhere in my life, I think it’d be there.

I’ve been to nearly every continent in the world now for one reason or another. I enjoy it, but I’d like to be a training officer even better. Helping men and women prepare for battle is nearly as hard as the battle itself.

I don’t think I’m wasting my time with you. Right now, I’ve got nothing but time. Have you travelled? Anywhere you’d like to go?

Thanksgiving is coming up next week, are you allowed to go home, or do you guys have to suffer without family?

Talk soon,

Des

This guy sounds pretty genuine. Like he actually cares about people. He can’t possibly be real, could he? Men like that don’t exist. Not in my world.

A place called Christmas Island? I’m going to have to look it up because it seems ridiculous. Especially in Malaysia. Isn’t it too warm for Santa down there?