The other week I found this typed fragment in a box of books. I don’t know if it had fallen out of one of the books (which had belonged to an academic interested in the philosophy of science) or from the box which was borrowed from the library which had donated the books to my library.

I can’t even work out the genre of this found object. It reads like a letter, but it is not presented like one. Maybe the writer was practicing for a card or letter they were to write by hand? But what was on the rest of the sheet of paper? Why cut it out?

In layout it looks almost like a stageplay. I searched in case it was the piece of a script, but Google doesn’t think so.

And then there’s the content. I would like to know what an ‘HL’ is. I wondered if the Captain was linked to the Salvation Army, given the conversion and holy living testimony (is that what HL stands for?). Most mysterious of all – the rose!

It feels precious to me, this ephemeral glimpse, as mysterious as it is, into someone else’s life.