But It Will Always Be Lovely

A note written by a ghost named Emma while she was tripping on LSD, found in the pages of Suite Francaise in Baños, Ecuador written by a ghost named Emma and some surprising insights into her upbringing gleaned from a bit of google-sleuthing.

Dear Emma,

It's morning in Austin, Texas, and you're on LSD. This will be exceedingly dumb very soon, but it will always be lovely. I am writing this because you are addicted to people saying you are beautiful. You know you don't even care about being it, but you desperately need some to tell you [sic] you are. What a wonderful gift that drug is to give to people. Life, and all of its inhabitants, are so extraordinary. Live and love and make life more beautiful.

Heepwah,

Emma

I will probably never meet Emma. I don't know when this was written, or why it was left in a book that ended up in South America. Did Emma bring it herself and then leave it behind in a hostel? Did she perhaps forget her book in a café where it ended up in the hands of an intrepid backpacker who brought it along to Ecuador?

I googled "heepwah" to see if I could gain some new insight into our ghost. Several hits came up. First, it turns out that "Heepwah" is a word used at Camp Oddesonk, a purportedly beautiful, 983 acre, co-ed, Catholic camp in Ozark, Illinois. I will borrow their own definition, published on the Camp's website:

Heepwah is a magical word that we use at Camp Ondessonk. It means “all things good”. Sometimes we use it to replace a round of applause, sometimes it just replaces the word “yay” or “ooh cool” or “huzzah” or “YES!”. We say it in many different contexts, so much so that it can be hard to stop saying it when you hit the real world again. It’s a good problem to have.

The second hit was a video called HEEPWAH that shows the beautiful sights of the camp.

Surprisingly, this word did give a lot of insight into Emma. Maybe she grew up going to this beautiful camp, and it became associated in her mind with "all things good". In watching this video, I got to see something that was obviously dear to my mystery writer. I could see the views of nature that obviously shaped this young woman into a adventurous, loving spirit.

Whatever became of Emma, I hope that she has lived and loved and made life more beautiful. Somehow, I'm sure she has.