MEMORIES
Chapter Three
Letter to Claire
Present Day
Rose smiled to herself as she
spotted in the picture what she was looking for. She had told Brock that she
didn’t have a picture of Jack…but indeed she did. She had a whole collection of
them. In each picture, Jack was there, standing behind her. A person just
looking at the picture wouldn’t see him. But if one really stood and examined
the picture…really examined it…they would see the faint image of a man…so faint
that it almost wasn’t there, but it was there nonetheless, always reminding
Rose that he was with her…through thick and thin. Rose remembered the first
time she had noticed it. It was in the picture she had taken with Claire, and
Rose had immediately written to Claire about it when she sent the copy to her.
Dear Claire,
I’m enclosing with this letter
the picture we took together. You won’t believe what I’m about to say, but
you’ll soon see that it’s the truth. That I’m not going out of my head, which I
thought I was when I first noticed it. But, anyway, let me tell you how I
noticed this detail in the picture.
I had picked the picture up
from the film developer downtown here in Santa Monica and was looking at it. I
mean, really looking at it. For some reason, I had the urge--probably from
Jack--to really examine the picture up close. I could have died when I saw what
I saw.
It was Jack, Claire. It was
our Jack. He was with us that day. He was standing between us, arms wrapped
around our waists. And he was smiling, Claire, his beautiful eyes full of
pride.
Of course, if you just look at
the picture, you can’t see him, but if you really examine it closely, you’ll
see him. He’s so faint that you can barely see him, but he’s there, all the
same. Oh, Claire, this makes me so happy. That means he’s with me…even now I
can feel his presence. Always there…ready to come to me whenever I need him.
Enjoy the picture, Claire, and
whenever you feel lonely or full of doubt, just look at that picture really
hard and find Jack. Let his memory fill you and encourage you. I’ll send more
pictures later, and of course when our baby is born I’ll send you a picture as
well. Well, I’ll let you go now. Write back to the address on the envelope. I
should be here in Santa Monica for a good while. I plan to visit that pier Jack
talked about, drawing portraits for ten cents apiece.
I’ll write back soon.
Yours always,
Rose Dawson