Oh dear. When it rains it pours. Whilst Starfish is recovering, popping IBUPROFEN against the pain in his shot leg, today a letter arrived, addressed to: Billy Weisslechner, and it is from Molly.
We assume the very same Molly to whom Billy had written that letter he never sent.
Obviously the two had been very close friends, as Molly has the address of the hotel, and yet, this Molly is apparently not known to Billy’s family for some reason, because they would, one should hope anyways…, otherwise have informed her that Billy is dead.
The letter came from England, not Austria, so perhaps that explains it. One this was sure: discussing the matter with the Weisslechners over the phone would bring exactly ZERO useful solution, same chances for success if we would forward the letter to them. What to do? We finally decided to open it.
The letter was written on a notebook page; first came an excuse for not writing earlier and mentioning some issues at work with a certain “Patti” at a certain shop where Molly was apparently working, that the working climate was not the best, and that apparently this “Patti” had offered a harsh and irrational critique about Molly for “not having enough tattoos to work there” (what kind of trade is Molly actually occupied in…?), and so she had decided to quit; then the letter read:
“… I am so glad to tell you: YES, darling, I decided to join you! I will come! Very soon, indeed. I have saved up some money for the trip and it should last for the beginning of the time there, so you told me you found a great hotel there, that accepts long residency guest? FANTASTIC!!! Oh Billy, sweetheart, we will be together again, soon! Can you arrange for me a room to stay there? I hope they have a vacancy! Ideally next to you, wouldn’t it be amazing? I hope!!! I hope, I hope, I hope!!! …”
And exactly as we had assumed, the letter made clear: Molly had no idea of Billy’s death, what’s worse: she was planning to visit him at the hotel and in fact had already purchased a ticket. Bravo.
Josiane Keller “Molly’s letter to Billy” (2016)
Josiane Keller “Molly’s letter to Billy – close-up” (2016)
Oh well, that’s the way the cookie crumbles, so Vincent was being pragmatic as almost always and got started on preparing a room, which luckily we have available right now, because it was not clear from the letter when this Miss Molly would exactly show up, and she had not put any sender’s address on the envelope, so there was no chance of contacting her either. So I guess Vincent will just keep the room ready for the lady to pop up some time between now and … soon enough, and we will have to take things from there.