Price of Salt

I am loving this book so far. I think the authors descriptions are one of a kind and she moves the story along quickly without leaving anything important out. I am very interested in Terry's character. She is looking for love, but all she's been able to find, before Carol, is what love doesn't feel like. So far the author is doing a wonderful job of describing what love feels like when you've finally found it but you have no idea how to label it because you can't imagine you found it. As I've been reading, I keep wondering what Terry put in the "unmailed letter." In these beginning pages of the novel, I’m not sure that she knows what she is feeling. I imagine there aren’t many lesbians that are open about their sexuality during this time so maybe she doesn’t even think it’s possible for her to be gay. But part of me thinks that she knows she’s a lesbian she just doesn’t want to admit it yet. Maybe the unmailed letter reveals Terry’s deep love for Carol. I imagine it reads something like this:

Dear Carol,

I think I have finally found love. I have searched for it in the familiar caresses of Richard’s hands and his soft glares but all I have found is a huge, black hole. I look at him and I feel empty. But after looking in your eyes, your grey, colorless eyes, I think I have found it. I think I am in love with you. I know you are a woman and so I don’t think it is a sexual kind of love but my skin does dance every time you touch me and my heart beats faster whenever you’re around. From the first time I saw you, I knew what I was waiting for with Richard and I knew that it would never come. I felt for you in one moment what I should have felt for Richard months ago. I hope this all doesn’t come as a surprise, but I’m hoping we can spend more time together. I’m hoping this very much.

Terry