The Unexpected "Package"

Talk about a special delivery…

- Thomas Cummins

GOOD FRIDAY was as good a day as any to end my decades on the job as a U.S. mail carrier. I’d been planning every aspect of my retirement for a while now—but finally I’d settled on the specific date. “Think of all I could have been doing these past few months,” I muttered to myself when I got to work that last morning. “I could have been spending time with my wife, getting things done around the house.” Well, all that would start after today. This weekend I would celebrate Easter and our new life in retirement together.

I headed for my truck. A mechanic flagged me down. “You’ve got a different vehicle today,” he said. “We’re putting your old one up for inspection before giving it to the next carrier.”