I sit cross-legged in front of the piles of books. The piles of varied heights, stuck together in a single file resemble a city's skyline. My friend is clearing out her library and I have been offered to take my pick. I resist. I have moved on to digital books. Their sheer convenience has squashed the romanticism of the scent of paper and ink and the feel of paper between my fingers. But, this skyline of old books with creased jackets, fading inscriptions and browned pages cause the heartbeat to quicken and I give in. My bedside table heaves under this new pile of old books...it had got accustomed to the weightlessness of my e-books.
I start with Daddy-Long-Legs, intrigued by the said friend's shock that I had not read it as a child. Daddy-Long-Legs follows the story of Jerusha aka Judy through her college years. J is raised in an orphanage, the kind like most from early 20th century. A place that survives on the charity of their trustees and reminds the orphans of that fact at every point. A place where the kids are expected to be satisfied with what they are granted and not aspire for more or better.
The story starts with J, at 17 years brooding over another Perfectly Awful Day - the first Wednesday of every month when the trustees would visit the orphanage. Every nook and cranny and every orphan had to be scrubbed and ready for scrutiny. Little does J know that this dreaded day would be the day her life would change. A spunky essay written by J catches the eye of a trustee. He decides to sponsor her college education as a writer and grant her a monthly allowance during her years at college. He has two conditions. One, that he would remain anonymous and two, that J would write to him every month to apprise him of the goings-on her college life.
The rest of the story is driven purely through the letters that J writes to her anonymous benefactor. She tells him of her classes, her roommates, her classmates and teachers and other activities at college. She shares her thoughts and feelings with him. At times she expresses her gratitude to him and proclaims herself the luckiest girl in the word. At other times she berates him for not disclosing himself to her. Through her letters, one sees J grow up and absorb the different experiences that college brings to her and finally lead her to her benefactor.
It is due credit to the writer's craft that she is able to move the plot through one-sided communication without falling into an over-telling mode. The letters are charming and vary in tone and mood to reflect the J's state of mind at the time of writing.
Daddy-Long-Legs reminds me why I fell in love with stories...they carried the possibility that anything, however improbable was possible. Five kids could solve mysteries and trap criminals. Cheese when toasted on a stick on an open fire in the mountains would turn golden. The naughtiest girl in school would mature to be the head girl and teacher's pet. Strange lands could float by and get stuck on the branch of really tall trees.
As I grew older my reading preferences changed, I moved to stories of the real world. The stories became a means to glimpse into lives very different from my own and they carried their own vision of possibilities. But, Daddy-Long-Legs reacquainted me with the blissfulness of inhabiting a world where it all ends well. After all, a small dose of fantasy amidst the constant barrage of reality is well deserved.
