The old man never had visitors. His only routine was writing a letter every Saturday. One day, I broke my own rule and read one of those letters — and it led me to a woman who turned out to be far from a stranger.
I had worked at the nursing home for five years and truly loved it. There was something special about caring for the elderly. We played chess, sang songs from their youth, and sometimes enjoyed small picnics outside with quilts and lemonade.
Among the residents was a man named Eliot — just Eliot, no last name, which he insisted on. “Call me ‘mister’ once more, and I’ll charge you rent for every syllable,” he’d joke.
We quickly became friends. Eliot was sharp-witted and never shy with a sarcastic comment.
One day, as I was leaving, I heard him mumble, “If it weren’t for you, this place would be unbearable.”
No one ever visited him. Ever. I asked him many times if he had family or friends.
“None,” he said. “Never had. Just me.”
He laughed bitterly when I asked about friends. “They disappear one by one. Then, once you’re inconvenient, they all leave at once.”
What fascinated me most were his letters.
Every Saturday at nine sharp, Eliot would sit quietly at his desk and write slowly, as if praying. Then he’d seal the letter, write the address on the envelope, and place it on the windowsill.
“Remind me about the mailbox later, Jane. I have to post it myself.”
I offered to do it, but he refused, saying it was important.
Curiosity got the better of me one morning. When Eliot left the room and his letter sat on the sill, I swapped it with a blank envelope and opened it.
For the first time in two years, I saw the name and address.
“To E.H. Forever your friend, Eliot.”
That name stirred something inside me. The address was in a small town an hour and a half away. I knew I had to go.
Maybe I could find someone who remembered him. Someone who might finally respond.
All morning, the letter burned a hole in my pocket. When the weekend came, I slipped out, letter in hand, like a teenager sneaking out.
I drove with the windows down, reading the address over and over, feeling strange déjà vu.
At the house, an older man answered the door.
“Can I help you?”
I explained about the letters sent by Eliot from the nursing home.
He called for a woman named Marlene, who appeared with a shoebox full of letters.
“They felt important. I couldn’t throw them out,” she said.
Seeing all those letters choked me up. After thanking them, I stepped outside and passed a rusty sign: “Luna Park. Closed.”
I froze. That sign was in one of my baby photos. How?
I had to see those old photos my mom kept locked away.
I hadn’t visited Mom in months. When I arrived, she said, “You only come this fast when your heart’s broken.”
I told her I needed something.
“Should I be scared?”
“Only if you’re hiding something.”
She gave me her classic sharp look. I asked about the baby albums she locked up.
She sighed but let me see them.
Flipping through, I found a photo of myself as a toddler on a carousel horse, with the “Luna Park” sign behind me. My hands trembled.
“Mom, where was this taken?”
She said it was before we moved, but wouldn’t say from where.
I showed her the letter addressed to E.H. that I found.
Mom said nothing.
“Mom, those initials — that’s you, isn’t it? Emily H****r?”
She dismissed it.
I asked if she knew Eliot.
She told me to stop.
I pressed for the truth.
She slammed a spoon down and said, “Let it go.”
But I saw her tension.
She finally confessed she was young and it was complicated. Eliot left without a word when she was pregnant and alone.
I whispered, “Is he my father?”
She admitted she lied, saying he died.
I told her I had the right to know.
She angrily said she raised me alone and decided what I was entitled to know.
I told her Eliot was old and alone now.
She refused to hear more and told me to leave.
The next day, I went to the nursing home.
Eliot sat in his usual chair, poking at a stale cookie.
I told him he had a visitor.
He joked about parole officers and fortunes.
I changed into a dress and returned.
Sitting with him, I told him I read his letters and found the woman he wrote to — my mother.
I revealed I was his daughter.
He was shocked, then said he wrote to her every week when he served away.
When he returned, she was gone without a trace.
Just then, the door creaked.
My mother appeared, tears in her eyes.
She said she wasn’t going to come, but after reading the letters, she had to.
Eliot said he waited for her.
We stood silently, arms around each other, tears flowing, holding the lost years between us.
Finally, we had all the time in the world.