Hillbilly Elegy

can.” The drill instructor, overhearing
my two extra lines of conversation,
asked sarcastically whether I’d made
enough time “for her to tell you a fucking
story.” That was the first day.
There are no phone calls in boot
camp. I was allowed only one, to call
Lindsay when her half brother died. I
realized, through letters, how much my
family loved me. While most other
recruits—that’s what they called us; we
had to earn the title “marine” by
completing the rigors of boot camp—
received a letter every day or two, I
sometimes received a half dozen each
night. Mamaw wrote every day,
sometimes several times, offering