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The Kaleidoscope Eyes Letters: Letter the First

Back in late 2009 I began writing a story called The Kaleidoscope Eyes Letters. It was a collection of letters written by one young fellow to another young girl he was smitten with but actually didn’t know (yet) when he began writing the letters.  I was going to simply publish what I had written thus far and let members of the general public fantasize dreamily about what happens between James and the said Girl, but I think I shall hereafter publish one letter at a time and then write the letters that I never finished to provide you, friends, with something of quality and depth to read, hopefully evoking thoughts as deep as the universe within you. As I publish succeeding letters, I will include links in each letter so that you can easily navigate to the previous or next or first or last letter.

Enjoy.

The Kaleidoscope Eyes Letters

Jordan Spencer Cunningham

Unfortunately, not all of James’ letters were preserved throughout the years after they were sent so only a scarce amount are presented here. We are led to conclude that James and the Girl corresponded for at least four years usually four to six times each month before the final letter in this collection was sent, so quite a space of time and, resultantly, quite a few letters are missing between several of these in the collection, especially those in the middle of what was preserved. Considering the events that took place during the time frame of these letters, it is a miracle any of them survived at all.

–R.D.B

To the Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes:

I sincerely hope that my first and last letter finds you well, if, indeed, it finds you at all. The truth is that I met you just once in the bookstore in the village square, and the only communication we had there was the roundabout kind done through eyes and smiles. I did speak extensively with your mother as she was attempting to find a book to give your father, and I, being employed by the bookstore, was glad to help her with what knowledge I had about the two books she was deciding upon, and especially so that I might meet her daughter with the kaleidoscope eyes! So we have met, even if it was briefly and quite informally.

I also hope that you do not mind that I address you as the Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes. You see, I haven’t the faintest idea what your name could be, and trying to guess it will simply lead me to disappointment: the only reason we say that Thomas looks like a Thomas or that Gerald looks like a Gerald or that Brittany Lynn looks like a Brittany Lynn is that we know those people well enough to identify them only with the names that they have, and thus there is no chance we could say that they looked like someone with any other name. Because I don’t know you, I haven’t any clue what your name might be, and assuming that it’s one name will leave me disappointed when I learn that it is another.

…yet I feel I know you just by looking into those kaleidoscope eyes of yours. Your eyes, of course, are why I call you what I do. You have the most incredible and riveting eyes that I believe that I have ever witnessed in all of the eye-seeing I’ve done thus far in my life—and they’re not just pretty. There is no denying that they are incredibly beautiful, of course—I’ll be the first one to say that. However, there is a quality and a light about those eyes of yours that captures me more than any other of the prettiest eyes ever have. They tell me something about you—who you are at your very heart. I believe that a person’s eyes are a sort of a window, if you will, to the person’s soul. If this is true (and believe me—it is!), then you have the most beautiful soul that I’ve ever seen. The light that shines from those eyes captivates me, and I wish I knew you.

Still—I do know you. I know that you are incredibly good and noble—it emanates from your heart and through your bright eyes.

Ever since I met you and your eyes the other day, I’ve often thought of you– not in the way that obsessed and infatuated men think of any old (young?) woman, but more as a composer thinks of his music or as an author thinks of his book. I wonder who this girl with the wondrous kaleidoscope eyes is? I wonder what her circle of friends is like? I wonder what she aspires to be? I wonder what adorable stories about the girl might her mother tell me if we were courting and I was waiting for her at the bottom of the stairs as she got ready before one of our adventures? Ever since I met you and your eyes the other day, my aspirations of who and what I intend to be seem much more attainable and much more golden. I know that sounds like some dastardly tacky love story available on the bargain shelf by a register in a supermarket, but it is only truthful; I can’t explain it, but your eyes and ultimately your pure and glorious soul have inspired me, and at great and unprecedented lengths. I must thank you for being at the bookstore the other day, for looking at me with those incredible eyes of yours, and for smiling so kindly at me. I feel able to accomplish most anything now!

Unfortunately, this letter is all in vain: it’s merely addressed to “The Girl with Kaleidoscope Eyes.” I’m sending it just as children send letters to Santa Claus, only I know that my letter won’t reach you. I only wanted to write this down as I couldn’t keep myself from doing so; you and your light-filled eyes have made an impression on me– and what an impression!

So I now send this off to you without any hopes of you ever reading it. You will instead never know of the young man who was inspired by you.

Sincerely,

–James Sylvester Callister

1 comment for the post The Kaleidoscope Eyes Letters: Letter the First

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  March 10, 2013 at 6:20 pm

  Whitney burbled:

  Jordan,
  These recent posts of yours are wonderful! What a lovely, and creative, story, and I appreciate the writing, and the ideas & thoughts shared inside. Thanks so much for sharing!