The Letter...a short story by Moosa Latheef

The first time I read the letter, it was without any feeling. But by the second time I was totally hooked and read it another few times.

The writer’s prose was superb; his concise use of Dhivehi words was pure magic, and stirred unfathomable emotions deep from my core.

I had to admit, his vocabulary was beyond excellent.

And, of course, it helped that he knew me very well.

Even though I spent the whole evening probing my mind, I still failed to pinpoint who he was. He remained a shadow in the dark recesses of my memory.

After the clock struck 3:00am, I had to go to sleep. His identity had to wait for the morning.

When I opened my eyes, there were only the usual sounds of early morning; roosters crowed, crows scratched the roofs, chickens clucked about.

I lay in bed for a few minutes, completely still.

My hands were resting on my chest, holding the letter protectively, lest it be blown away with the morning breeze out through the windows. I had it clutched to my bosom tightly right throughout the whole night, even when I slept.

I started reading it again. Somewhere in the middle, it said: “O girl, you bring to me with you the smell of roses every night in my dreams. When I wake up from the dreams, the scent lingers in my room, smiling back at me with your sweet scent.”

Whose words were these?

The author probably knew I was coming to my home island yesterday. He probably knows who I am, on a personal level.

The author must also be well-read; no ordinary mind can produce a letter as intense as this. He must have read countless works of romance, of melodrama and of beauty.

He wrote in the final lines: “When the sun slowly goes down to make way for darkness of the night, it paints the horizon with a mixture of bright colours. And everyday, the picture is different. But during the last six years, your picture was on the horizon of my love, without the slightest change… your face always fresh and young.”

Those lines were purely infectious; I could not help but smile everytime I came to those lines. It was teasing, which only added to my excitement; who could have written and sent this letter to me?

After studying for six years in Male, I finally returned to my island only yesterday.

Who was this person who spent all these years loving me?

I did not have any boy friends from my island. When I lived in Male, I had not even spoken to a boy from my hometown.

Young men from my island did not express any outward attractions towards me. I do not know why.

They might have been hesitant because I was the only daughter of the wealthiest businessman in my island.

I first came across the letter on my dressing table. Nobody seemed to know who had put it there.

The letter ended with these words: “Every love may not be real. I may be living in a dream. But this dream has been going on not for six years. It started well before that — ten years ago. Four years before you left to Male, you had built a palace in my dream. I was living in that palace. But I met you only in my dream. I am not afraid even if I can’t have your love in real life because nobody can ever steal my dream from me. And this dream of mine will always be mine and would not be unfaithful to me even if you became part of another man.”

No name, no address, not even an initial. It was typed on computer.

Should I share this letter with another?

I decided to keep it in my photo album.

If only I knew who the author was, believe me, I would not hesitate to become a part of him. I would gladly bring light to his dream.

(This short story was published in Haveeru Daily, Maldives leading daily newspaper, on 3 Jan 2003)

FEEDBACK

Email me your feedback on this story. I will forward it to Moosa and upload it here.

@ "I loved this story and read it several times when it was published in Huvaas magazine. I still have the leaflets collected from the editions. The heroine had a second chance of love -- which can only happen in a story, of course. The Letter is a magical story every ‘woman’ would love to be written ‘for’ her. This story is a combination of Victoria Holt and Mills & Boon. I feel that women loved to be ‘worshipped’ from afar -- wooing and claiming follows this. It’s today’s generation there’s no time to stop and smell the fragrance of ‘life’ -- just like the imported roses we see today -- there’s so much colour in the display --but no fragrance."--Fathimath Ali, Maldives, 10 January 2005

@ "The Letter is quite a lyrical portrayal of love, hope and aspiration, which is credible until the final para. It’s hard to believe anyone would be willing to become part of someone unless there is some form of communication and understanding between the two (additionally, in this case without making sure the guy was actually responsible for the words). Maybe this story is about a girl who’s naïve enough to believe a letter from a person about whom she knows nothing is just enough to decide he’s the one."--Sharif Ali, Maldives, 27 Jan 2003

@ "The Letter is another skillfully written short story from Moosa
Latheef. It was a nice, short and sweet letter! But I am aware that this story may not be to everyone's taste. Well, all I've got to say is that there is no way that you can make everyone fully satisfied; like you said in your “letter,” nobody can ever steal the dream from anyone!"--Mohamed Sobah, Malaysia, 26 Jan 2003

@ "I didn't like The Letter so much, but it appealed to me in a weird kind of way. I don't know. I guess I like the concept, but it would have been better if it was not so 'Shameema Yahya-style'. You know what I mean?"--Mariyam Nadhrath, Australia, 25 Jan 2003

@ "A typical 'Mills & Boon' story."--a "reader", Maldives, 25 Jan 2003

@ "I love this short story. It was beautifully written and very poetic. The first few paragraphs of the story, describing the letter, could very well be said also about the story. I wonder if the poem in the story was translated from Dhivehi, in which case I would like see the Dhivehi version. Like the girl in the story, I think you have to read it over again to really appreciate it. Hope he writes more like these."--Hursheed, Maldives, 24 Jan 2003

@ "The Letter is beautifully written. Like the girl, I read this story many times!"--Ismail, Maldives, 4 Jan 2003