Dear, Aunt Mary, Uncle Will, and the Girls,
I’m having great fun back here in Texas. Mother is so preoccupied with Aunt Marguerite that she doesn’t have time to get after me. I do remember your sermons, Aunt Mary. I’m being a good girl. I wouldn’t want to dishonor Daddy. Why, I’ve even got a beau. He’s an older man, more mature and dashing than your Wisconsin boys, Ruby. You’d like him. He holds the door for me, says “yes ma’am” and “no ma’am,” and—you’ll like this, Aunt Mary—he takes me straight home after a dance. You can see why Mom doesn’t holler at me. And he dances like Rhett Butler. A real Southern gentleman. I’d never marry him, though. He’s too old. And I kinda miss those country roads. Just kiddin’, Aunt Mary.
Well, I’m getting lots of riding in. Catherine and Ruby, you’d love riding out here on the prairie. You can ride all day and never turn around. ’Course, I don’t go that far, but sometimes we ride to the Guadalupe and camp overnight. We had some excitement last weekend though. Lee Baldwin took his boots off but didn’t check them the next morning. Stepped right onto a scorpion. He won’t be riding with us next weekend. Don’t let that scare you, Catherine. I still want you to visit me soon. Generally we avoid snakes and things. Most of us aren’t so careless as Lee. Course, we’ve lived with these critters all our lives. Lee should have known better.
Do you ever see Jack? I feel bad that I was responsible for getting him fired. I don’t think he left that gate open, but I’m not sure. I think he could have been a good worker, although he lacked some motivation. He didn’t really want to be a farmer. He was always fascinated when I’d talk about the ranch. Said he’d like to be a cowboy. I don’t think our foreman, Chester, would have been as forgiving as you, Uncle Will, even though you did fire him. If he’d lost a crop for us, that’s probably not the only thing he would have lost. Chester’s kinda mean that way.
Aunt Marguerite’s beside herself over her family back in Hungary. I’ve never met them, but I’m sure getting to know them fast. They’re having a terrible time under the Communist occupation. Aunt Marguerite says it wasn’t this bad under the Nazis. Chester says he’d sure like to see those Communists come to Texas. He’d show them what a Texas pointed boot can do. I don’t think I’d like them here. Aunt Marguerite sure’d like to get her son here, though, all of her relatives, but it’s not likely, I guess.
I miss all of you more than I thought possible. I sure would like for you to come visit us here. We’ve got plenty of room, more than we can keep up right now. You could stay as long as you want. I sure would like to take you riding, Ruby and Catherine. ’Course, our Texas horses are a bit more spirited than Lyda and Fanny Too, but I think you could handle them. We could ride all day.
Please write when you get a chance. Tell me about things on the farm. Have you had a dance lately?
I love y’all.
Cousin, Gusta