Aggie discovered the document in a removal box unopened since she came to Geneva as a young secretary. Written in pencil on airmail paper, it was adorned with hearts and tied in gold ribbon. She returned from the cellar to her third-floor flat which, on good days, had a view of Mont Blanc. She poured a tumbler of whisky, and sat in her late father’s armchair. She felt she was about to do something very wrong, like reading someone else’s diary. But surely you couldn’t invade your own privacy? She pulled the gilt bow and dived into her own childish script of 50 years ago. Her eyes swam.
STEVEN AND I ARE INGAGED!!!
THE STORY OF OUR LOVE
BY AGATHA AGGIE BAILEY (aged 8)
PRIVITE AND TOP SECRET!!!
My name is Agatha Bailey, but one day it will be Agatha Pryke. That’s because Steven has ingaged me. And after our wedding I will take his sir-name. Because that’s what happens when men and women get married. Acshully I’ll probably call myself Aggie Pryke, because I don’t like the name Agatha. My mother only called me that because of some silly writer. I call myself Aggie.Steven lives four doors down the road from me. He’s in number 26, and I’m in number 18. Steven and I have set up a speshal phone between our bed-rooms made of empty baked bean tins and green wire. We saw how to on the telly. I can’t often here what Steven says, but Janet gets very jellous when I tell her he calls every night to say he loves me. …
The manuscript ran to seven more pages, but Aggie couldn’t bear to read any more for now. She put it down. A sob erupted for a time when a shining future lay ahead.
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