bzarcher | (no subject)

This was originally just a one-off wierdthing for

riotlounge. But, I think I like it enough to keep around...

I started writing emails to dead people when I was 8.

Mom and Dad started it, really. They'd shown me how to use the new computer when it came home, and how to write emails so I could talk to Granma and Granpa, or Dad when he went on buisness trips.

Then, one day, Mom and Dad sat me down. They told me that Granpa had to go very, very far away, and that we wouldn't be seeing him for a long time.

My first reaction was that he went to prison, and I thought that was pretty cool. I asked if we'd bake him a cake with a hacksaw in it for his birthday.

Mom got a funny look about that one, but Dad couldn't stop laughing. He told me Granpa hadn't gone to prison, but he'd gone to Heaven. So I had to adjust to that, but I was mostly OK.

A few days later, I decided to do what I always did when I got computer time. I wrote Granpa an email. But this time, instead of sending it to NNDD40F, I sent to to "HEAVEN." I started doing this every week when I got computer time. I'd write one to Granma, one to Granpa, and sometimes one to Dad.

Nothing came back, but Granpa had trouble writing emails anyhow. Granma came down to visit a few weeks later, and I asked if he was reading them, and she said she was sure he was.

After a few months, I started addressing Granma's to HEAVEN, too.
I just kept writing. It didn't matter that they hadn't come back. It was just good to let them know how I was doing.

Things changed when my goldfish died, later that summer. Mom let me flush him down the toilet. I hadn't really written letters to a goldfish before, but since I was already in the habit, I decided to start writing things to him, too.

Unlike Granma and Granpa, the goldfish always responded.

I showed some to Mom and Dad, when they started letting me use the printer.

They won't let me on the computer anymore.