Chapter Four: Words of Wisdom
After leaving Wal-Mart, Sara headed back home to make sure her cats were put up before her parents got there. With the gift wrapped box of dog biscuits in the basket of my front handle bars, I pedaled to the post office as fast as I could. I had to stop a few times to reattach the pretty green bow the jeweler taped to the box because it kept getting caught in the wind. The bow flew into the air like a flying saucer before landing on the sidewalk behind me. I was tempted to leave it on the ground where it landed as I didn’t have much time to get to the post office. The post office closed early on Saturday and I wanted to make sure the gift box got to Suzy by Monday. I didn’t want to be a litter bug, so I stopped to pick it up each time it flew off. Besides, Suzy was going to love the beautiful package. I couldn’t wait to see his expression.
“Hey there, Serina,” Mr. Brady greeted me inside the post office. Mr. Brady was the assistant principal of Andrew Jackson Elementary School until he began working at the post office last summer. Even though he was always nice to me, Mr. Brady was the most feared man on the planet to the students of Andrew Jackson Elementary School. Every student feared a trip to his office which was usually the last resort a teacher utilized when dealing with a troublesome student. One student, Jimmy Kimmel, disappeared and was never seen again after visiting Mr. Brady’s office. Some people claimed that he was being held in solitary confinement in the janitor’s office for the rest of the school year and there were even rumors that his picture was on a milk carton at the supermarket. Autumn and I searched through the missing children posters in Wal-Mart’s lobby, but we were never able to find his picture. The scandal was put to rest, however, when it was revealed that Jimmy had moved to another state when his father received a promotion at the company he worked at.
“What can I do for you today,” Mr. Brady asked.
“I want to mail this package,” I answered as I handed him the gift.
“I’m afraid you can’t mail it like this. You’ll need to put in a mailing box and address it properly,” he explained.
“But it is addressed properly,” I protested as I showed him the gift tag that read To: Suzy, From: The Mailman.
“You want to mail this to your dog, Suzy, ……from the mailman?” he asked?
“Suzy and our new mailman don’t get along so well for some reason. If I don’t find a way to Make Suzy become friends with our new mailman, I might have to go to court and change my name,” I explained. “I don’t want to have to bust rocks for the rest of my life.”
“You’ve lost me,” He said bewilderedly.
I explained the conflict between Suzy and the mailman and the repercussions it could create if I had to go to court. “It’s really stressing me out. If I could just get Suzy and the mailman to get along, all of my problems would be solved. I figured that Suzy might like him if he thought he was bringing him dog biscuits like Mr. Kelly used to do.”
“Mr. McCarthy said he was having trouble with a pesky dog on his route. I didn’t know that it was Suzy, but I should have guessed. He wreaked havoc at the school last year. He dug up the time capsule, interrupted a softball game and stole the ball while it was in play, disrupted the national anthem when he stuck his head in Mrs. Crocker’s class and began howling, and interjected himself in the three-legged race during the May Day competition. That’s just to name a few, minor examples.”
“He won first place,” I reminded him.
“Nevertheless, he has been known to cause chaos wherever he goes. Mr. McCarthy is pretty concerned.”
“Is Mr. McCarthy our new mailman?”
“He transferred from Florida when Mr. Kelly retired. He’s actually a pretty nice guy and works very hard around here. He just has a Suzy problem,” Mr. Brady joked.
“Maybe the dog biscuits will solve the problem. How much will it cost for a box to mail this off in?” I asked.
“Don’t worry about it. I’ll give the dog biscuits to Mr. McCarthy and convince him that it would be in his best interest to give them to Suzy when he stops by your house. I don’t think he’ll have a problem with it. I think he’d be willing to try anything as Suzy’s about to give him a nervous breakdown.”
“Thanks, Mr. Brady. Are you sure this won’t cost me anything?”
“No, save your money. Mr. McCarthy will be glad to do it. What adventure are you saving up for these days anyway?” he asked.
“I’ve been saving for my Ph.D., but I’m thinking about putting that off for a while until I save enough money for a trip to Paradise.”
“Paradise, huh? You’re an intelligent girl, Serina. I wouldn’t worry so much about a Ph.D. Big things are going to come your way as you grow up. Right now, you should concentrate on being a kid and having fun. Don’t worry so much about becoming rich and famous. Just be yourself. As you grow older and appreciate the things that are really important to you, you might discover that you don’t have to travel far to find paradise. It could be just right around the corner.”
“Thanks again, Mr. Brady. I hope this works,” I said as I left the post office. I’m not sure what Mr. Brady was talking about, but I’m pretty sure Paradise wasn’t around the corner of the post office.