Astrid Lindgren | Pippi Longstocking | 1945

Dear Pippi,

You were such an amazing swimmer, you didn't even need to wear a bathing suit like the rest of us! In you'd go, clown shoes, namesake stockings, patchwork minidress (so short!), and then out you’d come, dripping and alive.

Once, at a party, my sister got so drunk she waded into the lake with her jeans on. Her body was aglow with moonlight and love.

"Just like Pippi," I said.

"I never know what the fuck you're talking about," she said.

We're still very close.

Sincerely,
Helen