A Few Days Later

I was laying in my new house, sprawled out on the couch. My pencils, pens, various papers and notebooks, and piles of unseen stories were just thrown all over the floor wherever they would fit. I didn’t really tidy up if I didn’t have to. The state of my room has just extended to be the state of an entire house, which is a mess of papers and food wrappers. 

I had been binge-writing story after story for a couple days and I had drained myself pretty thoroughly. It turns out that when you only eat, drink, and write, your life as a whole may be subject to extreme burnout. Like I said, I was sprawled out on the couch with a composition notebook on my chest and a spoon and cottage cheese in my hands. I thought I was happy, but it was also lonely.

I liked being alone, but I guess being by myself for too long was… tiring. After a few days, I ran out of things to talk about with me, myself, and I. Right when I debated taking a nap, I heard a knock at the door which made me tumble to the floor. I thought nobody knew where I lived, and there were no neighbors. Why would someone be knocking at my door?! The knock rang out again.

“Mail call!” said a perky voice.

Ohhh, it’s just the mail. But who would be sending me mail? And why? Does junk mail really catch up that quickly? I got up and opened the door. 

Standing at the doorstep was a woman wearing two large messenger bags; one on each side of her. She had nice white wings and had fluffy white hair. She looked to be a seagull variant I think. Her wide smile looked as genuine as they come, like she really did enjoy delivering mail.

“You’re Appa, right?” she asked. I could see in her eyes how right she wanted to be. I just nodded. “Yes!” she said excitedly, punching a fist into the air. “It took a few days to find you, but here we are! You’re a hard frog to find.”

“Did… you track me down yourself?” I asked.

“Well, my specialty is tracking magic!” she heartily laughed. “And it pays off when you’re the only mailwoman for carvations! If you address a letter, I get it anywhere! I’ve rushed around The Village, bolted to The Living, flown up to Heaven, and dived down to Hell!”

“Wow, you’ve… been everywhere,” I said, amazed. I didn’t pay attention to our postal service, but I never would’ve figured we only had one delivery person.

“It’s cute how the mailmen down in The Living have the little ‘Not rain nor sleet nor gloom of night’ thing,” she giggled. “I’ve gone through a lot more than that to deliver.”

“I’m sure you have… Oh, what do you have for me?”

“Here you go,” she said, flicking her finger. An envelope shot out of one of the bags and into my hand. “If you want to return it to the sender, just take it to the post office. If you tell them you’re Aria’s friend, I might be able to return it sooner.”

“Oh, wait, who-”

“Sorry, I’m already behind on my route,” she said, looking down at her watch. “I gotta fly, but take care, little man!”

With that, she flew away so fast that it kicked up dust, dirt, and leaves on the porch of my house. I coughed and looked up. She was already out of sight. I just shrugged and closed the door, looking at the letter as I walked back to the couch. It was from the newspaper office again. Maybe this was good, actually.

Dear Appa,

Your editorial on carvation biology and culture was the biggest hit we’ve had in months! We had a spike in newspaper sales, and we need more of those! Keep sending those stories and articles in the mail or come to our offices to do it yourself. If you keep up the work, one day we might even pay you. One slip up or missed week, and your job is gone! So don’t disappoint us or your column getting replaced with photography of duffleguhs!”

Everyone’s replaceable, including you,

~The Boss

Wow, the lady at the desk was right. I really do hope I never meet the boss… who also refers to himself as “The Boss”? I feel like that was a red flag, but it was better than nothing. I tossed the letter on the coffee table and went back to my position lying on the couch. I had a solid job secured now, so at least there’s that.

I went back to thinking about what I wanted to do. Maybe it was time I did go out and meet some other carvations. So for the first time in days, I turned the lights out and stepped outside without any of my writing supplies. Other than a notebook with a story I would drop by the office. I’d do that then grab a bite to eat. Maybe I could even make a friend or two on the way if I was lucky.