Dear Editor,
I’m writing to apologize for the spelling mistake in my previous letter, which led to our most unfortunate misunderstanding.
Just think, now that the incident is over, we can look back on this and laugh at how it came about.
The now famous letter, for your convenience, is attached here:
Dear Editor,
I went to meet the Prince when he came to visit our fair town. While it was a pleasant and productive meeting, I was nonetheless surprised when, as we went to part, he shit in his hand and offered it to me.
He claimed this was a custom in his land, a way of sealing a deal. I was, as I’m sure you’ll understand, disgusted by his action, and refused to take his hand. The prince’s face grew red with anger at my refusal, and stormed out of the room…I was roughly escorted out of the room by his guards.
In short, I was both disappointed and disgusted in my meeting with the Prince. I had expected more from an official from a foreign land.
Sincerely,
Disgusted in St. Louis
I swear I’d read that letter several times before I sent it out. A single character, using an ‘h’ instead of a ‘p’, caused all this trouble…riots, shouting matches, insults traded between our countries.
Who would have thought that such a simple typo would have led to an international incident? Certainly not I. However, you must admit that now I can add “Internationally recognized” to my list of accomplishments on my resume!
Before publishing my letter, you had written me back, asking for me to reread and verify all I’d written in my letter. My assumption is you were concerned about printing something libelous. I skimmed my letter again, but the events were the same (or so I’d thought). I’d responded that everything was accurate and looked fine.
How could I have missed such an obvious error?
When I reread my letter, I’d read what I meant to say, not what I’d actually written. I offer no further excuse.
However, I do offer a sincere apology to the Prince. I’m still disgusted by his actions, but not nearly as much as my atrocious proofreading skills. I do hope that he can find it in his heart to forgive me for such an egregious error.
I have only one further question for the Prince: Can we shake hands and make up?
Sincerely,
Embarrassed in Seattle
P.S. Yes, I have moved in order to save myself further embarrassment, and have hired a team of three proofreaders to monitor everything I write before I send it out.
Tags: Editing, realistic fiction, stories
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