It’s a good thing Anita was on vacation here at lovely Swartswood Lake, New Jersey; she clearly needed one. I have two copies of this postcard, both sent by Anita; both were sent to her cousin, Miss Rose La Rocca of Brooklyn, New York; both were sent at the same time on the same day. Rose must have been scratching her head when these two card fell through the slot in her door.
Postcard the first: “To Rose, Having a wonderful time. It’s real lovely out here. I miss you all. Give regards to all home. I’ll be seeing you soon. Your cousin, Anita.”
Postcard the second: “Hello Rose, Having a wonderful time. How are your brothers, aunt, uncle, Grandma and you. I’ll be seeing you soon. Love, your cousin, Anita.”
Sure, she sounds nice, but Anita is obviously off her nut. I have a few theories:
Theory 1: Anita is being overworked back in Brooklyn, and ran out to the Garden State for some desperately-needed R&R. She wrote a dozen postcards home and just didn’t realize that she wrote to Rose twice.
Theory 2: This “Lake House” is a sanitarium, and the phrase “I’ll be seeing you soon” carries with it an implied threat of the Michael Myers variety. Note that she enumerates the entire houseful of relatives against whom she has a grudge.
Theory 3: In reality, Anita sent only one postcard. The second card is from one of those alternate universes, like in the last Star Trek movie.
I will be happy to entertain any other theories; please leave a comment. And once you’ve helped me figure out what went on here, be sure to check out the other blogs celebrating Postcard Friendship Friday today. Speaking of vacations — TGIF!
From Christine:
Anita ran away from the sanatorium. Before she ran away (with a strange man!), she pre-wrote cards to all of her family members. Another resident was supposed to send them off at evenly-spaced intervals so family members would not suspect that Anita was actually on her way to Texas with a gangster. Tsk Tsk. It’s so hard to find reliable friends.
From postcardy:
Strange. I vote for Theory #1.
From Shaunna:
I like the alternate time line idea! :D Happy PFF!
From Stacey Newton:
Theory 2 sounds highly interesting! Good makings for a Lifetime movie!
From lyneen:
Too funny… maybe one of the cards was intended to be mailed to someone else! PFF
From Bob of Holland:
Chris,
you’re a man with many blogs, and I like them all. Another great post. Greetings from Amsterdam, Bob
From Snap:
I love this! Poor Anita was having such a great time, she forgot who she sent cards too! Happy PFF
From Linda:
What a great old hotel. Anita was so relaxed and mellow, she forgot she sent her pal Rose the first one!
From Mary Doan:
I like version #2, also. I can see her creeping out the windows on the side of the house, and trying to make her way to Brooklyn, knife hidden in a rolled up parasol.
From AnitaNH:
My theory is that Anita was thrifty. There was one free postcard available showing the house at Swarthswood so she sent the same one every time. Mail pick-up was once a week so postcards written on different days could bear the same postmark date.
Theory #3 is more interesting, however. Happy PFF!
From Sheila:
What’s to explain? I do that all the time.
From maryt/theteach:
Chris, I posted a postcard from Mohonk Mountain House from 20 years ago. I was going to say we both posted old postcards from Lake front vacation houses but then I read your post. I assure you Mohonk was truly a vacation place (at least I thought it was and never saw any nurses around) not a sanitorium like that of Shutter Island a book by Dennis Lehane and now a movie starring Leo DeCaprio. :)
From Max:
I’m not sure about people who do the same thing twice in a row.
From Max:
I’m not sure about people who do the same thing twice in a row ;)
From viridian61:
I like Christine’s theory (Anita running away with a man). Her use of the phrase “I’ll be seeing you soon” makes me wonder if she was an early resident of The Village of The Prisoner fame.
From irene:
O.K. here’s my theory, I’ve done this. I write postcards whilst waiting for trains, I dozed off, and lost my place on the list of postcards to be sent to and thus some of my friends get two. Great card though
From Delores:
Along the lines of Theory #3: I have been watching reruns of Sliders online and the 2nd postcard was from an alternate universe.
Wonder if she made a lot of postcards up way in advance and then would date them and send?