My friends Sue and Dave sent me a lovely Christmas card. I'm in Salt Lake right now otherwise I'd scan it, but really, it's not the important part of the story. You see, Sue was really busy in her Christmas preparations, and the card that was to be sent to me needed extra postage going to England. She kept the card with her domestic cards (which I'm guessing will be "all of the others"), intending to add the extra postage later. But you know how crazy things get at Christmas, and she had forgotten.
She mailed the card with the others. Sans postage.
Now, I wasn't actually there of course, but I can imagine how it happened. I think I got the details right...
It was just at the moment when the last of the cards slipped out of her fingers and fell into the mailbox did she realise her ghastly mistake. She tried to reach out for them, but it was too late. Much, much too late. She let out a plaintive wail, "Nooooooo!", and collapsed to the floor in a bundle of tears and Christmas shopping lists. Demitri was not going to be getting a Christmas card, and it would be the worst Christmas ever.
She carried on with her shopping, but she was a broken shell of her former self. While buying presents for her husband, her family, she could be heard to mutter "no postage... no postage... why...?" Once, a passerby overheard her and offered Sue a book of stamps out of sympathy, but she flung them out of her hands yelling, "It's too late!" The tears began to flow freely again.
Once home, she began to feel a little more hopeful. Maybe not all is lost? Surely when the postmaster general discovered an envelope in the system with no postage it would not be burned over discarded Sears catalogues as her mother once told her, but perhaps rather returned to her (albeit with a harsh admonishment). Her heart quickened -- a second chance! She could take the card then, affix the proper postage, and all would be saved! She began to wait by the mailbox, eagerly anticipating the daily delivery.
Two days passed. Then three. Then four. The letter did not come.
Sue succumbed to nightmares in her slumber, images of Demitri's card with a 1985 Sears catalogue in flames, surrounded by postal workers in blue cooking marshmallows over the inferno, hearing their ghoulish laughter. Glossy pages curled and burned, revealing power tools, lingerie, outdoor grills, and bedding, and finally the card itself, slowly turning to ash.
I'd like to be able to tell you that her suffering was finally abated by the return of the Christmas card, but I can't. It never happened. Instead, something else happened.
The card reached Demitri on its own.
It was a Christmas miracle! Surely all of the angels and the saints were smiling upon that Christmas card, for together they managed to spirit it to Sheffield, England, postmaster general be damned! And that's where I finally enter the story, when last week I retrieved my mail, and there it was. The Christmas card that defied all rules (well, at least the one requiring postage to be placed on mail to be delivered anyway), delivering its message of Christmas peace and love.
I encourage you to share this story of courage and hope with your friends and loved ones. It's proof that Christmas miracles do occur.
Comments (1)
Posted by Philip Newton December 26, 2006 23:51
Beautiful story - Great writing!!
I do hope that you had a good xmas buddy