"Mail"

Something else assigned to me...I wrote it a few years ago, but it's fairly short so I'm throwing it in.

It's always hot here in the south. Especially on Saturdays. For some reason or another, God and Mother Nature decided to make Saturdays unearthly hot in our small town. But every Saturday, we all sat outside anyway. That was the only day our town got mail.

Outside the general store were three rocking chairs. The first one was occupied by the owner of the store, Clark Finick. He rocked idly and the chair creaked and scratched against the wooden porch. Down a few feet was Jake Louis. Even though he was a decade older than Clark, he was his best friend. His chair was silent and lacking the cushion that Clark's chair had. In the third chair, Mark Uttrance sat forward restlessly. He was another friend of Clark's. He clasped and unclasped his hands. I could see the light reflecting off his tarnished wedding band and I thought of his wife at home, baking an apple pie. She was a June Cleaver type and for the past thirty years, had always baked an apple pie on Saturday.

Clark took off his faded blue cap and brushed away some flies and a little of the day's heat. Mark started rocking faster and wiped a little sweat from his forehead. I went over and sat next to Clark. Even though I was a great deal younger than the rest of the boys, I never felt uncomfortable. We all just sat around quietly, enjoying each other's company, so age just didn't matter.

Our silence was broken by the sound of tires gritting against dirt road. From the store came Clark's wife, holding the blue screen door open and watching the town's only road with anticipation.

Mark rose proudly, more like he was going to meet his maker than the mailman.

"Come on, fellas. Mail time."

I looked at the approaching truck, and decided I wasn't interested. Clark called after me, but I just stalked off.

"Your loss," Mark shrugged, as I disappeared out behind the store.

Once the mail comes, the fun is gone. I just like spending a Saturday waiting around with the boys. Besides, what do cats care about mail anyway?