So how shal I address you in this final letter,
place in the sitting room. ‘So it’s the first thing I see Dear Mum being entirely inappropriate as it has
when I enter the room,’ she says.
always been? As usual I can’t come up with a
suitable alternative, so I suppose I’l just lurch into Does it hurt when I talk about Mum or don’t
it, the way I always do.
you care?
Today is my eighteenth birthday, but of course
And here comes the big news. Yesterday
you know that, or had you forgotten? A card would
Mum told me that you left me in a supermarket
have been something. After all, eighteen is a pretty trolley when I was a few days old. I suppose she special birthday, and just for a moment I let myself
thought I could handle it better now that I’m eight-
believe that maybe, just maybe, this year might be
een. She looked so worried and anxious that I gave
different. Sil y old me.
her a big hug and told her I loved her all the way to
the moon and back, which is what I used to say
when I was little. She said we needed to talk when I
was ready.
I suppose it hasn’t real y sunk in yet, but all I
can think of is Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s or
Asda? And how ridiculous is that?
I’m tired of this letter-writing now. I’ve a
drawer full of letters to you that went nowhere, and
even if I’d known your address, I might not have
sent them.
So this is the last letter I shal write and the
only one I shal post, because this time IS different.
This time I know where you are.
I’m going to Uni in September to do English.
I’m real y looking forward to it, a bit nervous, of
course, and I shal miss everyone so much, but
Mum says there’l be such a lot going on that I
won’t have time to be homesick. I’m not so sure.