Leroy's First Letter to Nora

Leroy sat on his computer looking through profiles for pen pals. He thought he wanted another man, but as he read the profile of a young woman named Nora, it intrigued him so he decided to take a shot.

Hi Nora,

My name is Leroy Chapman and I am writing to you as part of the pen pal project.  My profile is here if you want to take a look.

You may wonder why a 36-year-old man would be writing to a twenty something girl. Frankly your profile intrigued me. You and I have a little more in common than you might think and well, selfishly, I hope you can provide a woman's perspective on some of my problems. Well problem isn't the right word, insecurities may be more appropriate. Isn't that why we signed up for this anyway? We all have our own demons and we need a safe place to talk about them and maybe get and give advice or maybe we are simply lonely.

I assume you may be lonely having just moved away from your family. I am very curious about that. I mean I would have given anything to have a normal family growing up and not sure I would have wanted to move away from that. That is a dream I have had my entire life. But I was on my own very much like you seem to be now and with no support system.

I guess I should tell you a little about me. I don't want to scare you off though. Some people are put off by me. I am not a small man. I live alone and have for the past 19 years. My current home is on the river. It's small but I love sitting on the deck in the mornings, drinking my coffee and listening to the birds chirping or hearing the occasional splash when a fish jumps. It's such a peaceful time before the traffic begins to drown out nature.

I haven't minded being alone for bulk of those years. I was so focused on making a living and keeping out of trouble that relationships were just too much of a distraction. But now I have a daughter. Yes, relationships...haha....but this is a relationship I cherish. She lives with her mother for now. Maybe if we become pen pals, you can help me know how to raise my little girl so she becomes a strong and independent woman - sort of like how I envision you. Okay- now I am embarrassed.


Let's see, what else….I own a dive bar in a not so great part of town, hence my scary reputation. I enjoy tending the bar on occasion and fill in when short handed. I also have a couple of apartment buildings that I managed to buy and now lease out. Between these and the bar I have a decent income though am not wealthy by any stretch of the imagination.

Currently I am studying to become an architect. I worked in construction in my early twenties and was fascinated by the architecture that went into the buildings. If I can pull it off, that might help my finances a bit. And well, now I have 'relationships' to worry about so even more of an incentive to do well.

So, if you don't mind me asking, what made you want to leave your home? If that's too personal, you don't have to answer. The only reason I ask is that I finally have an opportunity to have a family with my daughter and hopefully her mother and I don't want to mess it up. If you decide you want to correspond with me maybe we can get into that a bit more.

Sorry about the death in your house. It can be creepy for sure. So curious, who is your roommate? Someone you knew before or someone that you just needed to help with the rent? No shame in that. I can tell you from experience.

Nora, I hope to hear from you if this letter wasn't too creepy. Maybe I can tell you how I managed all these years on my own and why I no longer want to and maybe you can share more about your family and new roommate. Oh - and I would love to read one of your “dark” novels! Let me know the name and I can check them out.

So, bye for now.

Your maybe new long distance friend

Leroy 


Nora's reply to Leroy


A/N: Nora's profile is here and Leroy's profile is here. They are linked in the letter but thought I would put them here as well.