The following “letter” is part of the continuing series from the unpublished novel by James Garrett, “Benicia Letters Once More”. He does not plan to publish the book but instead is choosing to share the letters with the readers of the Benicia Herald. The letters continue the storyline of Garrett’s first novel “Benicia and Letters of Love”. Each “letter” tells of love in one of its many forms from a separate point of view. Benicia is represented prominently in the letters because of Garrett’s deep fondness for the city of Benicia. He hopes readers see themselves or others they know in the letters because the concept of “Love” is universal.

Mr. Garrett,
Over the years of my married life I’ve had a number of shirts that I liked wearing which suddenly disappeared. It is because of the love my wife Shirley holds for me. It seems like just when I was getting those shirts broken in they disappeared.
Then in my feeble mind I remembered telling Shirley that anytime she felt a shirt was worn to the point it needed to be thrown away it was her call to make. She knows I’ll wear a shirt until it is so thin I can be suntanned through it.
She always wants me to look nice, and, frankly speaking, I think I do. She can tolerate a little wear around the collar and sleeves but there is some judgment she makes when enough is enough and the shirt disappears.
I can accept much more wear and tear than she can. A shirt which I think will be good enough to wear to go to the post office, or get gas for the car, or pick up something at the grocery store brings out the comment from her, “You might want to change your shirt.” I dutifully obey to please her. I don’t want her thinking poorly of her ill-attired husband.
Our washing machine and dryer light up like Star Trek command control centers. I can operate them, but I don’t want to take the chance of having us blast off into outer space if I don’t have to. She gave me a chart to use when I help out or if I feel brave.
Sometimes I’ll sniff the armpits of the shirt I’m wearing if we are going on an errand if I’ve been doing any little chores around the house. Hey, body odor happens to the cleanest of us. But if I leave the house with a shirt that smells for any reason it would be because of an emergency or because I didn’t notice it. When we were sitting in the car Shirley might notice it though. The woman has the sense of smell like a bloodhound. She can tell what type flower we are near when I can’t even see it. If we pass a woman in a store, even in a grocery store with all its different aromas, she will often make a comment on the fragrance another woman is wearing. When I make dinner and open a container and she is in the kitchen, she makes a comment on how nice whatever it is I just opened smells.
The ability to pick up the scent or aroma of flower, perfume, or food is what Shirley was born with. Her picking out the time to send a shirt to its demise is purely because of her love for me. I think most guys have favorite shirts and some shirts they will never wear out. It makes it easy to see which shirts will wear out the soonest.
Every once in a while I’ll ask Shirley what happened to a certain shirt I hadn’t seen in awhile and if it might be in the mending pile. Once I asked and she said there had been a going away party for it in the laundry room and she was sorry I missed it. Or she will say she got tired of mending my favorite long-sleeved work shirt and that I needed to wear my newer ones more. There are times when she will remove a worn collar on a shirt which still has life and give it a kind of very becoming Nehru collar look. When that happens, I know the shirt is on its way to becoming a memory. Once, the front of a worn out tee shirt became the basis for a pillow cover for the den. The front of the shirt had a nice fish scene.
Shirley loves me. We live in Benicia and she decides the fate of my shirts.
Ken

James Garrett is a lifelong resident of Benicia and a former teacher at Benicia High School. He is the author of the following novels: “Benicia and Letters of Love”, “The Mansion Stories”, “Chief Salt”, and “One Great Season, 9-0!” He also compiled a three-volume work titled “The Golden Era: Benicia High School Football, The 1948 through 1960 Seasons, “A” History with Comments.”
He can be contacted at jgstoriesnpoetry@aol.com.

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