The Carrot Ranch January 30, 2020, prompt: In 99 words (no more, no less), write a story about a postal carrier in an extreme situation. Even if you base your story on a true one, focus on the core trait of this postal carrier. Go where the prompt leads!
While Charli’s photo is a familiar scene to me, and my grandfather delivered to boxes like that for decades, I went with fiction. Go to the Ranch to leave 99 words of your own. PYOG. (pick your own genre)
***
When he first started, his route rolled through the seasons, each the same in turn. Christmas catalogues, seed catalogues and boxes of yellow chicks, postcards from traveling friends and relatives, fall catalogues; often letters, always bills. He knew his families by what he left at the end of their driveways.
Driving the same route, he now felt disconnected. He rarely saw a postcard anymore, seldom a letter, even had fewer bills to deliver.
Thank goodness for Helen. She and her son exchange letters every week. She says he’s doing well, was himself working in the mailroom at the penitentiary.
Yea, the postman’s lot has definitely changed over recent years. If it weren’t for Christmas and Valentine’s day, they’d be out of a job.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I try to keep them in business throughout the year. I like the ritual and anticipation of checking the mailbox. I like knowing the person on the other side of the box.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Alas, mostly he/she brings me junk mail.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Still get the seed catalogs. 🙂 I have often thought the mailman probably knows more about a neighborhood than the people who live there.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Exactly. The longer initial draft talked more about that aspect of postal delivery, interpreting mail and its recipients.
And yes, while much has been replaced by online ordering, seed catalogs are hard to replace.
LikeLiked by 2 people
I’ve thought that as well!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I used to have oodles of Pen-Pals…
But I do still send post cards to a selected few when I travel.
I’ve always got some postcards with me in case I can’t find any and I always have post card postage in my wallet!
LikeLiked by 2 people
My mom and her sister used to send letters (blue envelops) to each other. Now, my cousin and I just exchange emails.
This story fills you with a nostalgic longing at the beginning but has an unexpected ending. Working in a penitentiary’s mailroom…
LikeLiked by 3 people
One of the few vestiges of snail mail… Sad in a way, but I do love not having all the paper clutter….
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pingback: Mail Carriers « Carrot Ranch Literary Community