A Letter Through Time

“Hey wait a sec…I see something.”

A lanky tanned man in his mid-20s was kayaking close to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, and spotted a glittering light in the distance. Michael Tolman, host of a travel YouTube channel called Tolman’s Travels, made his way over to the bottle while providing some narration for his audience of a few thousand people during a regularly scheduled livestream.

“What on earth…?” he said. “Hey, there’s a message in here! A real message in a bottle, I thought this was only a thing in the movies!” He chuckled as took off the cork and opened the bottle, retrieving the preserved piece of paper from inside.

“Okay, let’s see what we have here. Maybe it’s a treasure map or something?” Michael cleared his throat while opening the piece of paper, preparing to read it out loud for his viewers.

“To Marianne,

I really hope this letter gets to you. As I write this, I’m stationed somewhere near the southern part of England. Near a place called Cornwall, I think. Staff Sergeant Farley is adamant about keeping the upcoming operation on a need-to-know basis, since he doesn’t want to risk any potential intel leaking somehow. Unfortunately, that also means there are no letters to be sent back home, but I’ve thought of a way around it. I will be packing this letter into an empty bottle and sending it out to sea tomorrow, while I am on a boat. I know very little about the operation happening tomorrow, but I’ve heard the name Overlord mentioned several times.

To be honest with you, I have a bad feeling about all of this. Even so, I’m going to pray that this letter finds you. I hope you are still living in Charleston when the war is over, and I hope I am able to embrace you and little Emily when I return. There are no words in any language in the world that can describe how deeply I love you both, and I think of you two every day.

Love,

Leland Springer”

With the letter finished, Michael slowly lowered his arms on the kayak, being careful not to get any water on the paper. A tear streaked down his face, but he quickly wiped it away before putting the letter back in the bottle. He cleared his throat before speaking to his viewers.

“Hey everyone, there’s going to be a change of plans. I know I said I would stay around Myrtle Beach for a while, but to be honest, I’m really interested in seeing how this goes. Plus, Charleston is only a couple hours away! So I’m going to end the stream for now, but tomorrow, I’ll start it up again when I get there. Alright? Alright, see you later everyone!”

He put his phone in his pocket and made his way back to the beach, taking care not to lose the bottle he had just found. He slept well in his hotel room, and woke up early the next morning to get a head start on the day. The drive to Charleston was relatively carefree for Michael, especially since he hadn’t had to deal with any morning or rush hour traffic. Upon making his way to the city, he checked into a hotel, and got his phone out to begin streaming the day’s journey.

“Hey everyone,” he said. “So, I’m in Charleston, the drive wasn’t too bad. The main goal of the day is to find Miss Marianne, the rightful owner of the letter I found yesterday. To be honest, though, I’m not quite sure where to start. Do any of you have an idea of where to start looking?”

He skimmed through the messages pouring into the chatroom as hundreds of people tune in to see if he can find Marianne.

“Someone said phone book, I like the idea but I don’t know if those still exist to be honest with you. Hm hm hm…oh someone said check Facebook, that might work!”

Michael set his phone on the desk in the hotel room, keeping in mind to aim the camera towards him and pulled out his laptop. He pulled out the bottle as well, to double-check the names at the top and bottom of the letter.. After connecting to the hotel wi-fi, he opened up Facebook and searched the name Marianne Springer. Nothing popped up, even after trying Mary and Maria instead of Marianne. He sat back in the chair and sighed before looking at the messages in the chatroom.

“Ok, well, nothing popped up for Marianne. Wait, wasn’t there…”

He trailed off while picking up the letter again. Skimming through it, he saw the name of Marianne and Leland’s daughter: Emily. He set the letter back down on the desk and typed Emily Springer into the search bar. The top result was a woman who looked to be in her mid-seventies, and upon clicking on her profile, Michael saw that she lives in Charleston. He notified his viewers that he found the daughter, and typed up a message.

“Alright, I sent her a message about the letter and a picture of the letter itself to go along with it. While we wait for a message back, how about we explore the town a bit?”

He put his laptop and the bottle back in his backpack, and took out a chest mount before zipping it back up. He put the mount on, situated his phone so the camera was pointing straight ahead, and left the hotel room with his backpack.

While waiting for a response from Emily, he wandered around the city, exploring multiple landmarks. Rainbow Row, the farmers market, the Waterfront Park, an oyster restaurant, and even going on a carriage tour through the city. Everywhere he went, people seemed to naturally keep their guard up, since everywhere he went was on camera. Michael didn’t seem to care though, his viewers were more important to him.

After getting off the carriage, Michael felt a buzz from the phone on his chest. He picked it up, made sure the camera was looking at him, and saw a notification from Facebook. His eyes widened.

“Woah, wait, she responded. She said she’s interested in seeing the letter, and wants to meet! Great! Um, okay…” He found a nearby bench and sat down, keeping the camera facing him. “So, here’s what I’ll do. I’m gonna go meet her–not going to say where though for obvious reasons–and I’ll start the stream back up when I’m ready to hand the letter over. Hopefully I’ll get to meet Marianne so I can get her reaction to it. Peace out!”

Michael ended the livestream, put the chest mount back in his backpack, and slipped his phone in his pocket before heading to the meeting location with Emily. A short time later, he arrives at the location, a little coffee shop called Herbert’s Vintage and Coffee. He took a picture of the building before heading in, and searched around for the elderly woman in the profile picture on Facebook. He spotted her enjoying a cup of coffee, and walked over to introduce himself.

“Excuse me ma’am, are you Emily?” Michael asked. Emily set down her coffee before responding.

“Yes, that’s me. You must be Michael,” Emily said, her voice shaking a little.

“Yeah, it’s great to meet you.” Michael said. He sat down across from her, and reached into his backpack to retrieve the bottle.

“Oh, um, I’d prefer it if we could wait until my mother can listen to the letter,” she said.

“You don’t want to go ahead and read it?” he asked as his other hand reached for the phone in his pocket, ready to share the experience with his viewers.

“No, not yet,” she said. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to chat for a bit. My son is at my house taking care of my mother, and to be honest, I’m rather curious as to how you came across the letter from my father.”

Michael ordered a latte and explained to her where and how he found it, which also ended up including a short explanation as to what livestreaming is. She was intrigued by his story, listening until her phone started to ring. Her son was calling. Michael could overhear him a bit since Emily’s phone was at a high volume.

“Hey mom,” her son said. “Grandma’s looking a little tired, I know you said you had something to show her, so I wanted to give you a heads up.”

“Ok bubby, thank you for the heads up. I’ll be back there soon,” Emily said.

“Sounds good, Grandma’s just watching some TV right now, so I’m gonna say bye to her. I’d wait for you to get back but I got called into work, I’ll try to visit tomorrow.”

“Ok honey, thank you for your help. Have a good night at work, love you.

“Love you too, mom. Bye.”

“Bye baby.”

Emily hung up her phone and put it in her purse before turning to face Michael.

“That was my son,” she said. “He was taking care of my mother until I got back to the house, but he has to leave for work.” She stood up, grabbing her belongings. “Are you ready to go?”

Michael quickly put the rest of his latte in a to-go cup and grabbed his bag.

“Ready when you are, ma’am,” he said.

“Oh, you can just call me Emily.”

They each paid for their coffee before leaving, and together they started walking towards Emily’s house.

About ten minutes later, they arrived at the house. Michael had finished drinking the rest of his latte, and put the empty cup in one of the side holders on his backpack.

“My mother may be a bit tired right now, but I’m positive she’ll sit right up when she hears about the letter you’ve brought,” Emily said.

“Right, I’m sure she’ll be excited to read something from her husband,” Michael said. “Um, just out of curiosity, how old is your mother?”

“Oh gosh, she’s actually nearing one hundred years old,” Emily replied. “She still has her wits about her, if that’s what you were wondering, so she’ll be able to fully understand the letter.”

“Sorry, I didn’t want to ask outright.”

“Not a problem, Mr. Tolman.”

“You can call me Michael if you’d like.”

“I think I’ll do that, Michael,” Emily said, with a soft smile on her face.

The two of them got closer and closer to the entrance of the house, and Michael reached his hand into his pocket, ready to start a livestream from his phone. Suddenly, Michael started to question if it was appropriate to do that. To make such a personal familial situation public for thousands of viewers to see. This was something that had been decades in the making. A message that had miraculously crossed the Atlantic ocean and time itself, just to get to the loving wife of a soldier long gone.

Michael retrieved his phone, only to put it on silent before sliding it back in his pocket. “I don’t want to ruin this,” he thought to himself. Emily walked to the front door of her house, unlocked it, and welcomed Michael inside.

Upon entering the quaint, one-story house, Michael was greeted with a living room that housed a couch, two reclining chairs, a ceiling fan with lights and an entertainment center with a television resting on top. It was shining bright with reruns of Good Eats on the Food Network channel. Emily took her shoes off at the entrance, and Michael quickly followed suit before stepping into the living room. Marianne was sitting in one of the reclining chairs. Michael took note of how small and frail she looked, yet she had an aura of warmth and kindness.

“Mom?” Emily said. “Are you awake?”

“Hm? Oh, yes sweetheart, I am,” Marianne said, smiling the same soft way Emily did moments earlier.

“This is Michael, I told you about him earlier.”

“Yes, I remember. Hello Michael.”

She extended her hand, waiting for Michael’s. He gently grabbed it and gave her a light handshake.

“My daughter tells me you have something for me,” Marianne said.

“I do, I think you’ll be excited Miss Springer,” Michael replied. He took his backpack off before setting it on the floor, and grabbed the bottle from within. He took the cork off the bottle and took out the letter.

“It’s a letter from your husband, Leland Springer.”

Marianne’s expression turned from kind to shocked. She had never expected to hear husband’s name again after so long. She looked at Emily, who was now sitting in the other reclining chair.

“Michael told me he found the letter in the bottle while kayaking out by Myrtle Beach. I haven’t read it yet, but…Michael?” Emily said.

“Yes? Michael replied.

“Would you mind reading it out loud for us?”

Without giving it a second thought, Michael unfurled the letter and began reading. He spoke the entire thing verbatim, loud enough for both mother and daughter to hear. When he finished reading the letter, both of them had tears running down their faces.

“Oh…Leland…” Marianne said with a quivering voice. She stood up slowly from her seat and gave Michael the lightest hug he’d ever received in his life. He gently hugged her back, the letter still in hand. Emily watched as her mother finally received closure after so many years.

After talking for a while, both of the Springers were tired, and Michael left them with the letter and bottle before leaving them to rest. He took a deep breath, and looked up at the ethereal night sky before returning to his hotel room to rest after an eventful couple of days.

Before falling asleep, Michael opened the notes app on his phone and tapped on a note that said To-Do. At the very top, he typed in “live in the moment” before falling asleep, dreaming of a warm sun and the ocean’s calm waves.