As a letter carrier, I get paid to walk in circles. It is not such a horrible thing to stroll through the same neighborhood every day, although the job does get dull and the weather is sometimes horrible. Like any walker, I note the banal passage of the seasons. I had forgotten this collection of … Continue reading Macabre Mailboxes and a Minneapolis Murder Mystery
post office
Not Your Father’s Post Office
I had a pleasant conversation with a customer, an English professor, about my work at the post office yesterday. He had been encouraging his son, a bit wayward I imagined, to apply for a job as a mailman or “letter carrier” as they call us even though, truth be told, we don’t actually deliver that … Continue reading Not Your Father’s Post Office
Dog Trouble
If you deliver mail for a living you really get to hate dogs. They bark at you all day. After a while it's like someone is driving a nail into your frontal lobes. Bark, bark, bark! They go crazy. Little ones, big ones, it doesn't matter. Mail slots are the worst. The duct work acts … Continue reading Dog Trouble
Hello, Mailbox
Early on in my postal career I had this little apartment building on my route with mostly Somalis living in it. A little boy with a round mischievous face began coming out to watch me put the letters in the boxes. "Hello, mailbox!" he would say to me. This got to be his little joke. … Continue reading Hello, Mailbox
Dollar Bill
For many years, I befriended alcoholic coworkers far older than me. It was only after becoming a father that I realized that I was attempting to patch a hole in my life caused by my estrangement with my own. There was Frankie who drove to work in a Mustang convertible and sang Bob Dylan tunes … Continue reading Dollar Bill
Dead Letter Office
I lay awake in the half-light of early morning and listened to my wife breathing. It was January in Minneapolis. In a couple of hours, I would be trudging through the snow with a stack of junk mail balanced on my arm and a wad of letters clutched in my hand. I felt as if … Continue reading Dead Letter Office
