Dear Annie,

How are you? I am very good. I had flu last week but now I am better, Dr Daniel gave me some pills and told me to stay in bed for one week. He's a good doctor.

I haven't written you in a long time because school is very busy. I have a lot of homework and I have made a lot of new friends and I hang out with them after school at the park after we do our homework almost everyday.

My best friend here is named Clara-Anne Moss; she lives next to Dr Daniel. Do you have a best friend where you are?

What do you do there Annie? My teacher asked everyone who knew someone in Korea to find out what they do. I've asked Mimi and Joe too so Clara and Becky who know no one in Korea can tell about them.

I drew some pictures for you, there's a special one of all of us, even with Jemima and Nate. I know you haven't seen them yet, but I thought you'd like to see how you look holding them. There's one for Ben too, it's of our house, make sure he gets it.

Matthew is so dumb! He calls me names all the time. What can I do to stop him?

Love from Alice

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello my darling Alice,

Thankyou so much for your letter. Your drawings have been hung in the hospital to make the place look happier. It seems to work, and everyone likes them.

You're right Daniel is a very good doctor. We are very lucky to have a doctor like him. When mum had all of us, he was always there to make sure we were okay. Even with you, he was on the phone telling me what to do.

You said I never tell you what happens, but there's a lot that happens here, and I don't know where to start. I work as a nurse in a hospital, which is as close to the fighting as you are to the beach, about 3 miles.

Everyday we get people who have been hurt by the fighting and we try to make them better. Sometimes we can help them, but other times we can't and they die. It's very sad when one of our patients dies, because we feel like we didn't do our job right.

Sometimes I have to be an emergency doctor when we have a very badly hurt person who needs help right away and the other doctors are busy. Ben says that I'm just as good as a surgeon as he is, and if it weren't for me, the person might have died.

I do a lot of other things here too. I work in the office, answering the phone and doing paperwork. I'm not meant to, but the man who does has a friend who lost her family and he goes out with her to try and find them. I help then because Colonel Potter, he's the boss, gets mad when no one is there to answer the phone.

It's wonderful to hear you've made lots of friends. You'll be in Jr. High next year; I can't believe my little sister is growing up already! Just remember Alice you can ask me anything you want, even if I am in Korea, I'm still your big sister.

Ben sends his love and says thankyou for the beautiful picture of our house. He thinks you're a very talented artist and I can't wait for you to meet him. He can't wait to meet you either. He says that if I love you so much, you must be a very special girl and that he's sure he'll love you just as much as I do. He asked that you call him Hawkeye instead of Ben. Even his Dr Daniel who is his dad and I call him Hawkeye.

I have three best friends here. Hawkeye, Margaret BJ and I. We're all each other's best friends and we've promised to always look out for each other, no matter what. We know everything about each other, and can tell each other absolutely anything.

Matt is just a normal 8-year-old. If he calls you names just ignore him, he'll go away. Jeremy and I used to fight just like you and Matt do now. But Jeremy and I grew up, and so will you and then it will be better. You might even start to like each other!

It was lovely to hear from you as always, but I have to go again.

All my love, your biggest sister. Annie.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Belle,

Just a short note to tell you I've been moved as you can tell from the address. I'm a lot closer to Evelyn now and I can see her on my weekends off.

It's very busy, but as I am on my lunch hour, I don't have to be part of it for another 5 minutes. We have had a few 4077 patients here, they are very grateful for your work.

How are you? I haven't heard anything since your Ben phoned to say you were back from that horrible place. I hope your arm is better.

I have a shift now,

All my love, Miriam.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dearest Mimi,

It was wonderful to hear from you again, I'm glad that you and Eve are stationed so close to each other and that you can get together occasionally. it must be good to be so close to someone when you're so far away from home.

I'm doing very well. I'm completely better after my time in the POW camp and Colonel Potter says he's never seen me looking better. My arm and shoulder are fine, they get a little sore on cold days, but I have the best doctors that have ever graced the planet to look after me and they make sure that I'm healthy and remain that way.

Alice wrote a while ago and sent me more of her pictures; she's a very talented girl. I know you think we're very much alike, but that's where she and I are different, she can draw so well and I can barely make something look like what it's meant to. However what I lack in visual artistry, I have in musical talent. Alice can't hold a tune. I guess we've just been blessed differently.

Everything here is really organised for once. We bugged out a week ago and everything was sorted and ordered properly and it only takes twenty minutes to find something now instead of an hour.

Better go, as I have more letters to write and a mail chopper leaves in an hour.

Love as always, Belle

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

My darling daughter,

I hope you are well and that all is quiet there. It sounds as if you are very busy at times and I really hope that you are not working too hard. I have written Ben a letter to tell him to make sure you sleep sometimes. You've always been a really hard worker. Remember, if you feel sick, take a break or you'll just get worse!

How are you and Ben? You didn't mention him much in your last letter and Daniel is dying to know how his son is as he rarely writes. Do you two operate together much? I can't imagine you would, Ben sounds very much like Daniel and there'd have to be an automatic personality clash between you two if you had the same patient.

I hope the cake I sent last week got to you all right, you never said if it did or not. I will send some biscuits or cake or something when I do some baking this weekend.

There are plenty of new pictures of the kids and Rachael has included one of Corey, he's such a big boy now. He's almost using three syllable words and he can walk up and downstairs. He looks just like Steve.

I have to go, no rest for the wicked and even less for the good!

Lovingly yours, Mum

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Mum,

Thankyou so much for the wonderful letter and photos you sent, I showed them to everyone and though they all agree that Jemmy and Nat are beautiful, they never want to see them again! I think I overdid it.

Everything here has been busy but good. We had an extraordinary number of patients last week, but as we had plenty of supplies and all our staff on hand it was reasonably easy to treat them all.

Ben and I are more in love than ever, and you can tell Daniel his son is fine. He is on a 3-day pass to Tokyo with BJ. He needed the break and the rest will do him good.

We never work in OR together and I guess that's a good thing, he has had a spat with every nurse who's ever assisted him in OR! When we're in OR, we're both extremely stubborn and strong-willed. We both have our own, completely different ways of being doctors and nurses; if we had to work together we'd most likely cause a volcanic eruption!

That cake you sent was delicious, I think Margaret had more than I did, she doesn't have anyone to send her things like that. Her sister does occasionally but that's all. She pretends that she doesn't care about not getting parcels and letters from home all the time, but I know deep down in her heart she does.

It's very quiet here. As I said, BJ and Ben were given three days in Tokyo and Margaret's up there too learning a more efficient nursing technique. She'll come back and order us around, only to find that her 'new, more efficient technique' is how we've done things for ages. I miss the three of them as we are best friends and are inseparable. We've sworn to be there for each other whenever we need it. And we are.

Klinger is also away a lot of the time as he is trying to help a local girl, Soon-Lee find her family. It means that I often step in as Company Clerk and now I really appreciate everything that Klinger does, I didn't know how much work was involved. I'm more understanding when he takes forever to do something now.

Well, I have to fill in the daily report and write a few more letters so I will go.

Your loving daughter, Annabelle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello my wonderful daughter-in-law

I haven't heard from Hawkeye in ages except through your mum. Please drag my son out of bed long enough to write to me! He's very slack about those things. I guess he gets it from me, you could say that I'm fairly laid- back.

The last time he wrote was when you went missing ; he was frightened he'd never see you again. He wrote me a ten-page letter on how much he loves you and how he wanted to see you again. When you come home I'll show it to you and you may begin to fathom how much you mean to him. I'm sure he tells you everyday how important you are, but I know my son and he never tells everything to anyone.

I was scared too, I'm not ashamed to say I cried when I heard you were officially MIA. I want to be able to kiss the bride at least once. You are going to have a proper white wedding when you come home aren't you? Don't mind me, it's just an old man wanting to see his son get married and maybe give him a grandchild or two.

Your mother was worried too, but she didn't let it get to her, she just said 'my Annabelle is tough, she can take care of herself' and kept going. You've got an amazing mother Annie, she really adds life to the quiet little town.

Life in Crabapple Cove is quiet and peaceful and never changes. Some people say that it's slow or boring, but I love this life and I wouldn't want it any other way.

I want to thankyou for being there, for being his love. You've made him really happy and replaced some of the hole that my Katharine left when she passed on. You were such a beautiful baby and I feel very lucky to have who is now such a beautiful woman as my daughter-in-law.

As I said, please get my son to write, I haven't received a letter from him in a long time and for whatever strange reason I feel a peculiar paternal concern for him.

All my love, your father-in-law, Daniel Pierce.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Dear Daniel,

I will get Hawkeye to write as soon as he's back from Tokyo, he's on some much-needed R&R. He's very well though, in wonderful spirits and even better health.

That's why I love Hawkeye, because he never reveals the full extent of his feelings and it's like everyday I discover something new about him or a new level to his love. Life for me is very full surprises but I love this life and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Don't worry, if I have anything to do with it, we will have a proper white wedding in the Cove. And give you a grandchild or two, we know it won't be easy, but we're determined to have a lovely big family.

I was gone from the camp for 16 days and I was told no one slept at all while I was away. I'll believe it too, you should have seen the state they were in when I returned. But everyone has recovered fully, myself included. I don't like to sound vain but I have gotten back my weight in muscle and I'm looking pretty well.

You don't need to thank me it's just naturally who I am. You don't need to thank me for being me. I feel very lucky to have had a doctor like you, and I feel even luckier to now have such a wonderful man as my father-in-law.

Think of it this way Daniel, God blessed the both of us by bringing us together and giving us Hawkeye. It is Him that you should be thanking. I thank Him everyday I am alive, for you, for Hawkeye, for everyone.

I will not allow Hawkeye to touch a martini until he writes to you when he gets back, I promise!

Hoping to see you soon, Annabelle.