Ender's Game (Ender's Saga 1)

"Why should I help you!"

"Don't help me. Help Ender. What does it matter if that helps us, too?"

"What kind of terrible things are you doing to him up there?"

Graff chuckled. "Valentine, my dear little girl, the terrible things are only about to begin."

Ender was four lines into the letter before he realized that it wasn't from one of the other soldiers in the Battle School. It had come in the regular way--a MAIL WAITING message when he signed into his desk. He read four lines into it, then skipped to the end and read the signature. Then he went back to the beginning, and curled up on his bed to read the words over and over again.

ENDER,

THE BASTARDS WOULDN'T PUT ANY OF

MY LETTERS THROUGH TILL NOW. I

MUST HAVE WRITTEN A HUNDRED TIMES

BUT YOU MUST HAVE THOUGHT I NEVER

DID. WELL I DID. I HAVEN'T

FORGOTTEN YOU. I REMEMBER YOUR

BIRTHDAY. I REMEMBER EVERYTHING.

SOME PEOPLE MIGHT THINK THAT

BECAUSE YOU'RE BEING A SOLDIER

YOU ARE NOW A CRUEL AND HARD

PERSON WHO LIKES TO HURT PEOPLE,

LIKE THE MARINES IN THE VIDEOS,

BUT I KNOW THAT ISN'T TRUE. YOU

ARE NOTHING LIKE YOU-KNOW-WHO.

HE's NICER-SEEMING BUT HE's

STILL A SLUMBITCH INSIDE.

MAYBE YOU SEEM MEAN, BUT IT

WON'T FOOL ME. STILL PADDLING

THE OLD KNEW,

ALL MY LOVE TURKEY LIPS,

VAL

DON'T WRITE BACK THEY'LL PROBLY

SIKOWANALIZE YOUR LETTER.

Obviously it was written with the full approval of the teachers. But there was no doubt it was written by Val. The spelling of psychoanalyze, the epithet slumbitch for Peter, the joke about pronouncing knew like canoe were all things that no one could know but Val.