I’m relieved to . . .
To: C_Lewis@
From: [email protected]
Subject: RE: Time Capsule Belonging to Martha Bennett
Hi Callum,
I’m relieved to hear you’re the right man! Although, if my “sleuthing” is correct, you live in a small village just outside of Nottingham so I can only assume your weather is typically grey and moody, no?
I did come across your grandmother’s obituary in my detective efforts, and I’m deeply sorry for your loss as well. From what I read and recently came to learn about her, she sounded like a very impressive person. You must be very proud to be her grandson.
As far as how I tracked you down, I simply googled your grandmother’s name, the year, and ‘doctor.’ Then, I found this article titled, Nottinghamshire Clinic Passed Down for Three Generations, published only a month ago.
Attached here for reference. That is incredible, by the way. What a legacy you’re continuing on!
But, yes, as you mentioned, you’re a hard man to find.
You seem to not exist anywhere else online other than the clinic’s website, which doesn’t even have a picture of you that I could have used to reverse image search.
Good for you. I, on the other hand, have had to install an app on my phone that locks me out of social media to avoid doomscrolling for too long.
It also only feels right to tell you now that I’m a history teacher and I brought this time capsule in as a special project of sorts for my grade twelve students.
A large part of what I try to do with my class is make history personable, and this was an effort to do just that.
I don’t mean to invade your or your family’s privacy and, if you so wish, I will not share our correspondence from here on out but my students did help me write my initial email and will be eager for updates, if permitted.
As for the contents of the time capsule .
. . I haven’t been able to open it yet. My grandmother mentioned that Martha had taken the key with her when she left for England.
I could probably take it to a locksmith, but I thought I’d ask first, to avoid damaging it.
(That’s the historian in me, I guess.) Do you or your mother happen to have a mystery key or know anything about one?
Lastly, I wanted to let you know that what I’ve learned from my grandmother’s letter may come as a surprise to your family, as it did to ours.
To put it simply, your grandmother and mine were romantic partners once upon a time.
If that is something you don’t feel comfortable learning more about, please let me know and we can cease contact.
I certainly hope you are not an intolerant toad, but if you are, your loss.
Sincerely,
Georgia