Max leaned back in his chair and sighed.  He picked up the white envelope with his name on in it. He was surprised that there was something for him in the box from Dana.  He was surprised in fact to even have been included in what went on at The Planet this morning.  He hadn’t known Dana that well or for that long.  But there it was, a crisp white envelope with his name on it. Max. He allowed himself a wry smile as he realised that seeing his name in print like that was much like his email – an unfaltering acceptance of his identity.

Spurred on by the courage this provided him he opened the letter prepared for anything.   Despite the tacit support that Dana had given him on the day of the basket-ball game, Max knew that more than anyone Dana was in a position to question his desire for the surgery but  he also knew that if he was going to get to the point where he undertook the surgery he had to be ready to take on any criticism that others may express and deal with it calmly and rationally.  He opened out the page and began to read.

Dear Max,

It’s a little weird to be writing to you to be honest.  As I sit here thinking about you I realise that we have quite a bizarre relationship.  In reality I know very little about you.  For most of the time since you came to L.A. I have been sick and tired and so I really haven’t had the energy to get to know you properly.  It’s kind of embarrassing actually, as I sit here and think about it I couldn’t tell you how many siblings you have.  I don’t really know what kind of music you like. I do know you are interested in sports though, oh and I know you have great taste in picking the tennis players that you support!

Seriously though, despite all that, we have had conversations about things that I have struggled to talk to anyone except Alice about.  I’ve come across as being angry with you over the last few weeks.  The truth is I’m not angry with you, I’m just angry.  Angry that I got sick, angry that I lost my breast, angry that it might not even matter because I might die anyway.  Since the basket-ball match the other day though, I’ve been thinking a lot about what we talked about.