Saturday, August 02, 2008

I Broke a Heart

But the question is, whose heart did I break?

In rummaging through the piles of mementos from my European tours of duty when I was 19-24, I came across a letter on light blue Basildon Bond stationery with no stamp, no address, no date, just my name on the envelope, which means it was hand-delivered, probably to my mailbox. I was working in London between October 1961 and February 1962, and the handwriting looks English to me. Here's the text:
Dorothy,
I never knew that 'goodbye' could be so painful. I won't besiege you with telephone calls of appeal, because you obviously believe it best that I shouldn't. My mind tells my heart that you are right.
I love you.
[illegible]
Dear Dari'o, Dania, Davie, Danie, David, or whoever you are,
If you're reading this, please identify yourself and remind me what happened and where? Forgive my faulty memory, but by now I think we can safely let bygones be bygones, don't you think? At least I saved your letter.

7 comments:

elswhere said...

The single quote marks are also a good indication that it's British.

How mysterious and fascinating!

Fred said...

Oh, that's an interesting find. Maybe he's reading your blog?

SavtaDotty said...

Elswhere, Yes it seems I was a callous heart-breaker in my youth. Now you know.

Fred, If he's reading, he's pretty shy about commenting! The mystery continues...

Levant Lady said...

OMG!! A similar thing happened to me a few months ago...
The "romance" happened when I was 24, in 1982,in Eilat, with a Spanish beach vagabond. I totally forgot about him until he wrote postcards to my mom's house recently, declaring that he's spent years searching, never forgot, and how he still loves me! Well, I certainly did completely forget, until a mutual acquaintance reminded me who he was. pretty embarrasing, no?..

SavtaDotty said...

Shari, Welcome to the Callous Heart-Breakers Club! Yes, It's not exactly our finest accomplishment, but maybe we can develop a twelve-step program to help all the others?

Unknown said...

hi there, the name looks like "Damian" to me...

Gila said...

Oh, how tragic! I wonder if he is still mourning his lost love....