I’ve taken to waiting with some girls who are doing a journalism course with me a few afternoons a week at TAFE. They are totally devoted to writing and really serious about making a living from it. And it’s fun talking to them. They have lots to say but they actually want to listen to me, too. Zoë was a bit miffed at first but we still hang out together and we’re still best friends. I’ve explained that I like talking to the TAFE girls about our work.
‘Don’t go and turn into a geek like them, Di,’ she warned. ‘All they do is work, work, work and that’s no fun!’ I can’t explain to her that this kind of work is fun to me.
Last week I received a letter with a postmark from Ohio, America. It made my heart beat in a really weird way. I could see that it had been sent a few weeks earlier and was obviously intercepted by my stepbrother. Why on earth he’d keep it, I have no idea. Since the funeral, with Marcus’s change of heart, he’s trying to act like a human being from time to time. Not that we’re friends. Too much has gone down for that. But he’s less interested in me and he doesn’t tease me anymore. He doesn’t ignore me either. It’s bizarre, he actually screwed up his face as if he was sorry when I said I’d be moving out soon.
He must have felt guilty about this letter and decided to deliver it, even though it proves he took it in the first place.
My hands shook as I opened the envelope, wondering what the real Hammond Zeigler would have to say to me. I was a bit frightened, actually. My eyes went straight to the signature and, yes, it was Hammond Zeigler’s all right. But in that American way they have of naming their sons after themselves, it was Hammond Zeigler Junior. A photo fell out. Not a stunningly handsome face but pleasant enough, with really nice eyes; brown and deep, and lots of curly brown hair. I looked at the photo for ages. Hammond Zeigler Junior reminded me of someone. But I couldn’t for the life of me think who it was.
There was a whole lot of introductory stuff about how he’d tracked me down and how he thought I must be a crazy kid with a sense of humour like him! He has an ego on him that’s for sure, but he really made me laugh when he recounted how his father had nearly died when all the press first swarmed around him, but in the end he’d turned it to his own advantage.
Hammond Senior used all the media attention over my fake interview to get funding for his cow intestine program. So, his son explained to me, my imagination had contributed to science. And the family had no hard feelings at all.
Hammond Senior is absolutely thrilled about the funding as is his whole university department. He’s a bit of a hero really and his nickname these days is the Prince, believe it or not. Hammond Junior told me how his mum and dad now have plenty of good laughs about Hammond’s ‘royal affair’.
The best news of all was that Hammond Junior is in the top basketball team in his state. And the basketball team is coming to Australia in about six months. They’ll be in Sydney for about a week. And he wants to meet me!
I don’t know why I have the best feeling about this meeting, but I do. I said, ‘Thank you, Diana,’ a few times before I sat down to answer Hammond’s letter. And I wasn’t thanking myself. What’s happened is all tied up with my first infatuation with the Princess. Infatuation that turned into real affection and gratitude to her.
I know I’m not magically cured of my eating disorder or my depression, but I have put on weight and I don’t even need the contract anymore, though I still see a counsellor. I’ve worked out how much exercise I should do without going overboard. I still jump out of bed and do plenty of push-ups before breakfast, but I do eat breakfast! And I still run every evening because it clears my head, but I follow that up with dinners that include carbs and fats. I’ve stopped counting calories. I just want to feel strong and fit.
Sure, I know I have a way to go. I still miss my mum and always will. But something’s lifted and I know that even though I’ll be living on my own, I’m not adrift anymore. I sense that I will never again feel as desperate as I did on the night of the dance. If I do, I know I’ll do something about it, and that’s a good feeling.
Dear Hammond Junior,
So there are actually TWO Hammond Zeiglers! (Three if we count my fictional Hammond Zeigler the publisher.) Two of you! Unreal! And both good-humoured. Mind you, I’m not sure I want to meet your dad, Hammond Senior, any time soon. But I’d like to meet you when you’re in Sydney. I live quite near the most wonderful beach in the world. You’ve probably heard of Bondi, well I’d love the opportunity to show you around …
I found a half-decent photo of myself to put inside the letter. I looked at Hammond Junior’s picture again. I looked from one to the other and I started to laugh. It was unreal! I realised who Hammond Zeigler was like, well, around the eyes that is … me!
And I felt sure Princess Diana would be pleased that the Hammond Zeigler Letters were about to begin!
Author’s note
I’d like to thank some special people for their involvement in this book, not the least Belinda Bolliger who remembered an earlier version of the book and believed in this one. I’d also like to express my gratitude to the consultant Rowena Robinson, and Kylie Burgess-Kime who both generously gave further insight into the condition of anorexia in young people; and to Jeanmarie Morosin for her scrupulous and sympathetic editing.
About the Author
Libby Hathorn is an award-winning author of more than forty books for children and young people. Her stories have been translated into several languages and adapted for stage and screen. Libby lives in Sydney where she lectures in Creative Writing, Children’s Literature at Sydney University. Poetry is a special interest, and she manages her poetry project, 100Views, in several schools.
Copyright
The ABC ‘Wave’ device is a trademark of the
Australian Broadcasting Corporation and is used
under licence by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia.
First published in Australia in 2007
by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
This edition published in 2011
by HarperCollinsPublishers Australia Pty Limited
ABN 36 009 913 517
harpercollins.com.au
Copyright © Libby Hathorn 2007
The right of Libby Hathorn to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her under the Copyright Amendment (Moral Rights) Act 2000.
This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced, copied, scanned, stored in a retrieval system, recorded, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher.
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National Library of Australia Cataloguing-in-Publication data:
Hathorn, Libby.
Letters to a Princess / Hathorn, Libby.
ISBN: 978-0-7333-2075-0 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-0-7304-9545-1 (ePub)
I. Australian Broadcasting Corporation. II. Title.
A823.3
Letters to a Princess Page 11
