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Another Chance

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[Postcard with a view of mountains in Kluane National Park. Foreground covered in fireweed.]

Addressed to:
Victoria Metcalf
Lemon Creek Correctional Center
2000 Lemon Creek Road
Juneau, Alaska 99801
USA

Haines Junction, YK
14 April 1984

Dear Victoria,

Please let me help you, with finding legal advice or whatever else you may need. Who is your lawyer? And above all, don't despair! The trial isn't over yet.

You are in my thoughts, always,
Benton Fraser

***

[Postcard with a view of summertime mountains in Alaska, mirrored in the water.]

Addressed to:
Benton Fraser
Willow Acres Rd 15
Haines Junction
Yukon YOB 1LO
Canada

Do you regret it?
V.

***

Letter, addressed to:

Victoria Metcalf
Lemon Creek Correctional Center
2000 Lemon Creek Road
Juneau, Alaska 99801
USA

Haines Junction, YK
23 April 1984

Dear Victoria,

I have written and re-written this letter many times, and I'm still not sure it conveys what I want to say. But I can't rewrite it forever, and so I will have to settle on these words, imperfect though they may be.

There are many things I wish were otherwise. I wish you and I had met under happier circumstances. Sometimes I even wish I were another man, one who wouldn't hesitate to run away with you into the mountains. But things are not otherwise.

I have to be honest with you. If I faced the same dilemma today, I would make the same choice. You have to understand that I'm an officer of the law. If I broke the law to gain an advantage for myself, or broke it on someone else's account because I cared for htem, what sort of man would I be? How could I expect anyone to place their trust in me after that?

But I also meant what I said: Victoria, I love you. I have never felt for anyone else what I feel for you. I don't say those words lightly, and even if you are convicted, I won't abandon you. I'll visit you and write to you, so that when you are released from prison, we can have a life together.

Again, please let me know how I can help you.

With all my love,
Ben

***

[Postcard featuring sharp glaciers and icebergs on a nighttime background.]

Addressed to:

Benton Fraser
Willows Acres Rd 15
Haines Junction
Yukon YOB 1LO
Canada

So you don't regret it. In that case, you can fuck off.

V.