I’m Anneli. You don’t know me. Or maybe you do. In any case, we’ve never met, and I actually don’t know anything about you. Are you still here? Will you be back? Are you a boy or a girl?
I once saw a movie. Someone died and was taken to what looked like a waiting room in heaven. There were many other people in that room, and a child who said, “I came into the world and then I was immediately taken back. Now I’m waiting for my turn again.” It didn’t sound like the child was sad about it. It just wasn’t the right time yet, and maybe that’s the case for you, too.
Are you waiting now, too? Are you up among the stars? Is it dark or light where you are? Can you see us? And when you come back to Earth, will you be with us or with another family?
I have so many questions, and somehow no one really wants to talk to me about you. It would make your mom so sad, so we shouldn’t bring this topic up. “This topic,” by the way, is you.
Anyway, it makes me very sad to pretend you never existed, so I thought I’d write you a letter and tell you about us down here.
So, I’m Anneli, your cousin, and I live here with my family in a small village in Sweden. We basically only have trees and lakes, a few houses, and a highway. There’s not much going on here. My mom often says that time flies, but here, it stands still.
Luckily, I have Sixten. He lives just a few houses away, and when he’s not burying his nose in thick books or soldering cables together, he’s the best playmate you could imagine. He knows so much, and he’s brave, too. Sometimes, though, he can be quite annoying, because he takes everything so seriously and far too often thinks he knows things better. But I can rely on him, and we have a lot of laughs together.
Miss Kitten also lives with us. She’s our cat. She actually lived in the city with a man who wasn’t very nice to her, and then she grabbed some balloons and flew away. Sixten and I found her in the woods, and she’s been with us ever since.
I really love her. When it’s really cold, she lies down at my feet and keeps me cozy and warm. Then she often tells me stories about the city. Did you know that the city lights illuminate the night sky so brightly that you can hardly see the stars! If only they knew how many stars there actually are in the sky! They’d rather sit in the dark.
Sometimes I also visit the animals in the forest. My favorites are Grandma Inga and Grandpa Bertil Fox. When Grandma Inga bakes her blueberry pie, the whole forest smells of it, and even the grumpy mole Olof makes his rounds around the fox’s den, waiting for a slice.
…and Grandpa Bertil, he knows stories! Whether they’re true, no one knows, but somehow no one cares, because they’re fabulous! But I’ll tell you about that another time.
