Margot was four and Greta had just turned three when their oldest cousin, James, went off to summer camp for a couple of weeks. His

mom said that we were allowed to send emails, which was a very progressive thing at the time. One day Margot said she wanted to write to him, and she asked me if I would type it out for her. She believed that he was in misery because he was in a strange place without his family. While she was saying her letter, she tried to put a good face on things, but she just couldn't pull it off.  

Greta wanted to write to James because Margot did. She was just coming off a jag where she went around hitting people and I guess she thought she'd take a stab at dictation. It was her first correspondence of this nature, and she managed to touch on some key words that someone would expect to find in a letter. She asked me if I was writing it all down like she was saying it, and I told her not to worry. I couldn't sound this crazy if I tried.