Two young men start writing to one another--one a civilian, the other a soldier struggling with his life in Vietnam.Pen pals become something more as the boys discover things about themselves and each other through their letters and their lives.A love story.Length: 12,400 wordsHeat level: low Excerpt:Dear John,My name is Annie and I am your new pen pal.  My teacher said we shood write.  I am eight and I hav a cat.  I hope that you will do good in the war in Veitname and not get killedSinceerly,Annie  Hello AnnieThanks for the letter.  We don't get a lot of time so please excuse the shortness of my letter.  I am very glad to hear from you.  Anything that reminds me of home is so very welcome right now.  Please write again sometime. J. Hanleyp.s. please call me Hanley.  I don't know if you'll know what this means, but I wouldn't like to get a 'dear John' letter!  Hanley--Sorry for the delay writing.  This isn't, you may guess, Annie writing.  I'm Daniel, her older brother.  My little sis isn't really up for correspondence yet by the looks of it.  Falling behind on her homework and couldn't keep up.  So I offered to write you a bit, and soften the blow by sending a package.  I don't know much about it, but imagine you'd be glad for any distraction just about now. Before we go any further (or don't) I may as well tell you about myself.  I'm nearly nineteen and not eligible for the draft.  My eyes are bad.  Really bad.  I have contacts now, but I'm still disqualified from the war.  Lucky devil, huh? Well I don't really have anything much to say, just wishing you well, and letting you know if you want to get more letters, they'll likely come from me till Annie gets her shit together for homework.  Let me know if you get the cigarettes and want more.Sincerely,Daniel  DanielThanks for the cigs.  Thanks for writing.  Yes, of course send more.  I can trade them for things and they take the edge off after the worst of the combat.  Some of the guys use harder stuff but I'm trying to avoid it, don't want my brain fried.  Tell me something, anything, about where you live, or what you do, or anything.  Please.Hanley