Exchange

[sid401k]

Title: Exchange
Prompt: winter holiday/festival (R4C1)
Medium: fic - 1,166 words (exclusive of author’s notes)
Rating: G
Warnings: This is canon, so the future is not a happy one. The first three parts of the fic are just cute; enjoy! Stop after the pictures at the end of Part 3, and make up your own ending, if you like. Because Part 4 gets

Comments

[juliathecat]

Beautiful. And poignantly sad.

Thanks for sharing and for the research behind it, nice postcards!

A real good job, Sid.

x x x

Jules

[sid401k]

Thank you. I really enjoyed paging through the eBay valentines, remembering my school days.

[lovewithstands]

I liked this alot!. I really wished they would have shown the cards to at each other :/ I know Ennis was totally against it but it would have been so cute to read that exchange!.

Thanks for the info, cool!.

[sid401k]

Yes, it sure would have been a cute scene, with each of them embarrassed to present the other with the silly kid's valentine, and then their surprise and delight the the other one had the same thought.

But I just couldn't see Ennis breaking through his paranoia enough to do it.

Too bad.

[lovewithstands]

Yeah..

[soulan]

I remember those valentines, which were very similar in the 60s. The messages varied in tone and I recall agonizing over which to give to whom, and going through the ones I received, hoping to find one with at least a somewhat better than neutral message.

Kimberly was a hugely popular name in the 70s. My parents were way ahead of their time.

Very poignant and sad, just the way I like 'em. :)

Kim

ETA: I signed up for that Shmoop Bingo and immediately forgot about it -- until now.

[sid401k]

I sent em in the 50s, and they were the same then.

I got THE most popular name from 1949, with the result that every year of my entire school life, there were at least two of us in the class. Once there were four of us.

At the rate I'm going, I project that my Schmoop Bingo card will be filled by November of 2018.

yep tears

[joetheone]

Oh that was special and sad and well had me crying until red in the face. Joe

Re: yep tears

[sid401k]

I'm not sure whether to say "I'm so sorry" or "I'm glad you enjoyed it"! I admit to tearing up considerable when I first contemplated the idea of the two cards in the two shirt pockets.

[eandj]

I'm glad I didn't stop after no.3
it's sad yes but beautiful
thanks
Paula

[sid401k]

Thank you so much. It was originally supposed to be a bit more light-hearted. When I found those two cards on eBay, I knew that I had to connect them to Ennis and Jack somehow. Then I thought to end the story with something like, "Of course, they never sent them." But then I got to thinking what would they do with them then, and once Jack told me that he'd sort-of deliver it by sticking it in the stolen shirt's pocket, I knew what had to happen then. So much for light-hearted fluff! The story goes where it will, and the author just hangs on for the ride.