The In Between Letters

Dear Anna,

This is a Pink. I understand that on your planet, you go by labels, one for each person, but on my planet, we only get referred to by our generation or our sector, or our color. I also understand that color is a sensitive topic on your planet, so just to clear that up I’ll explain: Here on H4, every one of us is a different color: Yellow, Green, Pink, Blue, or Purple. They dictate our personalities, how we react to stuff, and things like that.

Anyhow, I’m writing this letter because in my support group for adjusting to life with humans, we’re coming up with solutions for being worried about meeting you humans. Green, my group leader, is having us write to a human. I chose you because we did a planet-wide search of everyone that is logged on your Google web and I found you. You already know this, but you are a scientist that looks for aliens. That is what we are called now. Now I am Pink the Alien. You are a good person because you can answer my questions. I hope that you’ll write back and tell me everything about Earth that our slideshows don’t explain.

I’m nervous about coming to Earth. You’re different than B4. You only have one moon and you have different species. There are dogs and bears and babies that cry loudly and people that want to ruin your world. I don’t know if you can fix everything before I come in 30 moonrises.

Dear Pink,

This is Anna. I’m very glad that you wrote to me and honored that you think that I can help. I hope that I will be able to adjust to dual-species-ness easier for you.

First, I think you need a name. If you don’t want one, that’s okay, but everyone here has one and it’s a good thing to do, especially because I hear that your sector is going to be brought to Earth and live among humans. I can give you suggestions, or you could pick one.

Also, you’re not wrong to worry about our species. We have a lot of problems, and in no way do I want to make those problems your problems. I want the best for you and your species. I’ll think about how to prove to you that our planet is worth it. Thank you for writing!

Sincerely,

Anna

P. S. Once you have a name, you can sign your letters with it

Dear Anna,

I’m very glad you wrote to me too. You will probably help prepare me for Earth. I used the google web again to find names. I do not have a ‘gender’ or an ‘age’ or a ‘race’, as the Google web suggested with name searches, but I did find someone that looked useful. Kathrine Johnson helped your space people, and without her, you may have never found me. This makes her important. I would like you to call me Kathrine.

Next, I would like to know about you. In our support group, we learned that asking is a good way of learning. Clearly, you are a human. I need to know about humans, so I would appreciate learning about you. I have specific questions: What language do you speak? Do you have children? Do you have pets? What sports do you do? What is your favorite Earth food? 

Last, I’m not sure that I’d like to visit Earth. You have a lot of problems, and you know you have a lot of problems, and you haven’t even done anything about them! 

Sincerely,

Kathrine

Dear Kathrine,

I really like your name. It is a good choice. 

To answer your questions: I speak French, English, and German because I live in Switzerland. Switzerland is a country, a bit like a big version of your ‘sectors’, and they speak many languages there. Right now, English is the best language that works with the portal that translates things from our language to yours, so I write in that. I do have a daughter, her name is Elena, and she is nine years old. I also have two turtles named Bow Tie and Sweater Vest. My favorite food is probably either chocolate or cheese. What foods do you like? What is your family like? 

I can’t believe that it’s only two weeks (14 moonrises) until you come here! I hope that I’ll be able to meet you in person while you’re on Earth.

Sincerely,

Anna

Dear Anna,

It is nice that you have pets, and I am glad that you chose something as calm as turtles. I believe (and from my research, this fear is not uncommon) that dogs are highly vicious creatures that I would not want to be around. They are common pets, which is something else I am worried about in my travels to Earth. 

Also, I don’t know if we need to write anymore because my sector’s leader may be removing us from the trip. I’m sort of hoping I don’t have to come. You haven’t helped me, not really. You might be a good person, but there are still bad people, right?

Sincerely,

Kathrine

Dear Kathrine,

I’m so very sorry that I’m not helping give you faith in humanity. We are a good species, I believe. We are trying our best, and a partnership with your planet would be seriously beneficial to both of our futures.

I completely understand what you mean about dogs, they are a bit scary, aren’t they?

Honestly, I’m not sure what to write right now. I feel like it’s up to me whether or not you come to Earth, and that’s a lot of pressure. No matter what I say, I may not make a difference. I hope you will come, though, if it means anything.

Sincerely,

Anna

Dear Anna,

I’m sorry to be so negative. I don’t want to put pressure on you. 

I’m making my choice tomorrow, since our sector leader has made it optional to go on the trip. I’m not sure if I will come, but I would love to hear more about your planet. We could certainly continue our correspondence. I have heard about photographs, which is something I cannot believe my species neglected to invent, and I would like to see some of where you live. If you can, show me your daughter and your turtles and your home. Thank you for being a good human,

Sincerely,

Kathrine

Dear Kathrine,

This is Elena, Anna’s daughter. I was looking through her computer for a story that I wrote for school and found the chain between you and Mom. My mom, talking to an alien! Sorry, I guess it’s probably not very polite to call you an alien because I bet you call me an alien and I don’t really like that. So anyway, I read through all the emails even though I know I shouldn’t have. And I want to write to you. I want to tell you about Earth.

We have hunger here. We have racism and sexism and homophobia. We have climate change and wars and people who hate each other. 

But we are beautiful, too. We have sunsets that look like someone poured a set of paints out and dropped water on them. We have trees that take ten people to hug around. We have libraries filled with books about everything you could think of. We have people who care, like my parents, who care enough that they’re going to devote their lives to making our planet a little bit better. They’re the reason you should come. Even if you have four sunsets in a day, even if your trees take twenty people to hug around them, even if your libraries have more than you could think of. You should come for the people.

I hope I’m not too late. I hope that you come. I hope you want to meet me.

Love,

Elena