Wonder the Wombat Asks a Question

On Featherpost Lane, in a cozy burrow, lives Wonder, a round, curious wombat with a twitchy nose and a head full of questions. Wombats are famously curious diggers, and Wonder digs for the best thing a letter can hold near its end: a question. Because a question is a little door that lets the letter keep going.

A young writer thought her letter was finished. “I said hello, I shared my news… done!” Wonder ambled over, nose twitching. “Almost!” he said kindly. “But if you stop now, Grandma has nothing to answer. Ask her a question! A question is how a letter becomes letters — back and forth, back and forth.”

The writer wasn’t sure what to ask. “Anything you’re curious about,” said Wonder warmly. “Big or small. How is your garden growing? What’s your favorite color? Did the rain reach your house?” He grinned. “When you ask, you’re saying: I want to hear from you too. And that’s an invitation to write back.” He never rushed her; he just waited, curious, the way wombats do.

Say it with Wonder, out loud: “Ask them something, big or small — a question says: please write back to all.”

The writer added: What is blooming in your garden right now? — and suddenly the letter wasn’t an ending, it was a beginning. “Now she HAS to write back!” the writer giggled. Wonder wriggled happily in his burrow. “That’s the whole idea. A question keeps the friendship travelling.”

That is Wonder’s move, near the end of your letter. Before you sign off, ask your reader a question — big or small, whatever you’re curious about. A question is the little door that invites them to write back, and turns one letter into a whole conversation.