It is that time of year again. January 20th is the day that Señora Lander cleans up the house, especially her daughter's room, wiping everything clean from the desk to the bed. Ever though her daughter rarely comes back now, she still has had the desk repainted, and the bed sheets changed. After cleaning, she opens the middle drawer of the desk and takes out a bunch of letters, reading them by the light of her lantern. All of them are letters from Carlie, including the note she left behind when she left home. Señora Lander has kept all of them carefully. The writing of the early letters was childlike and only said that she had found a place where her condition would be treated. There are tear marks from the girl on the first few ones, and Señora Lander finds tears coming to her own eyes every time she sees them. Slowly but surely, the writing became smoother and more confident, and the letters started to tell more about Carlie's life: the friends she made, the bad guys she taught a lesson to, and the things she saw outside Bolívar. Through the letters, Señora Lander could almost see her daughter laughing and talking with others—the same lively, fun-loving girl that she had always been. In more recent letters, though, Señora Lander begins to see that her daughter is no longer the child she remembers. Carlie wrote about her thoughts as she received treatment, and the plans that came to mind. She told her mother that she intends to travel throughout Bolívar and beyond, bringing joy to others who suffer from pain and illness, and bravely facing life together. Señora Lander quietly holds the letter in front of her chest, happy at her daughter's growth. She has finished reading all the letters. The lantern is growing dim. She carefully puts the letters away and takes out a fuel canister from the storage room, which is almost the same age as her daughter. She cannot help but smile when she sees the empty cans and 'loops' next to them, that Carlie used to play with. She turns around to look at her daughter's room, knowing that what she is waiting for will soon arrive. 'You've got mail, Señora Lander!' The mother's heart is warm on this winter's day, as she hears the mailman's voice from outside the door.