The twenty-one year old author always saw that his college mates received large envelopes from foreign countries
sent to them by their pen pals. So the author also selected an address and sent a friendship request to Alice H. in Los Angeles in California.
After sometime he received her acceptance and they both started writing to each other. Alice didn’t write much about herself. She sent him gifts books and other things. The author came to know that she was a rich lady. But he always wanted to know her age but how could he? Its bad manners. So he asked for her photograph. But Alice said that she didn’t have any to send at that time. The more he tried to know the more she hid her age. Time passed the author became a man, got married, had children but he continued to write to her, send her gifts and cards etc.
Then one day the author received a letter from America that Alice had died in a car accident. The letter was sent by one of her friend and it also had a photograph. The photograph of Alice. She was not a young girl. She was a lady of seventy eight. She had wanted her photograph to be sent after her death to the author. Though she was seventy eight her face was beautiful and full of sympathy.