The next day, Michael was working out what word to use next in a sentence that was part of his new letter to Lizzie when he heard the click of the mail slot on his front door and the flop of a letter on the doormat. He smiled as he got up out of his chair and headed to the front door, where he bent down and picked up the letter. As he straightened back up, his grin grew even wider when he saw who it was from.

David ‘Gordo’ Gordon. It seemed that Gordo had taken some time to reply to his letter.

And upon seeing that the letter was addressed to him, Michael secretly felt as though Gordo had done his best to write a letter to him. After returning to his desk and sitting down at it, Michael opened the envelope, pulled out the letter and began to read it - one paragraph at a time.

As he read, he smiled. He had to admit, Gordo was smart - in a genius type of way. And he was quite smart to tell Michael about the learning disability known as dysgraphia and how it affected a person’s ability to write, too.

When he was finished reading Gordo’s letter, Michael put the letter aside and then turned back to his letter to Lizzie, his mind now on one thing when it came to her. He hoped that she was well, and that she was doing great at Hillridge High School, too. After all, being a high school student was not always one good day after another. Sometimes there were bad days in between.

Dear Lizzie, he began, and then began to think how to best write his new letter to her. His eyes lit up as though he had gotten a new idea, and then he began to write, while also making sure to take his time with it; taking one’s time was better than taking shortcuts, after all.