To this day I still remember my mom's letters. It all started in December 1941.
Every night she sat at the table and wrote to my brother Johnny, who joined the war that summer. We hadn't heard from him for months. I didn't understand why mom kept writing when he never wrote back.
"Wait and see. We'll get a letter from him one day," she believed.
I don't know if she said that to calm herself, dad or all of us down. But I do know that it helped us stick together, and one day a letter really arrived. Johnny was alive somewhere in the Pacific.
Whenever she finished a letter, she gave it to dad to post it. Then we sat down and talked about the good old days when we had been a family of ten: mom, dad and eight children. Now they had all moved away from home to work, serve in the army, or get married. Except me. Sometimes she needed to write three different letters at a time.
Little by little words about mom and her letters spread. One day a woman came. Her voice trembled (发抖): "Is it true you write letters?" "I write to my sons." "And you can read too?" whispered the woman. "Sure." The woman pulled out a pile of letters. " ▲ "
The letters were from her son, a soldier in Europe. The woman's eyes welled up with tears as mom read the letters one by one. Later mom took the pen and began to write back. She knew exactly what the woman wanted to say.
Days later the woman returned with a friend, then another one and yet another. They all had sons fighting in the war, and they all needed letters. Mom had become the correspondent (通讯员) in our town. Sometimes she would write letters all day. I saw those mothers' faces brighten up in smiles when they posted their letters.
One day the woman came again. All hope disappeared from her eyes and mom immediately knew what had happened. They stood hand in hand for a long time without a word.
"All people were born with one purpose," mom told me. Clearly, mom's is to write letters. A letter unites (联结) people like nothing else. It can make them cry. It makes them laugh. It makes the world small.
Today all her letters are lost. But those who got them still cherish the memory of her letters in their hearts.
