The Mailbox

Both homes had the same boxy juniper hedges. Both yards were immaculate and the owners followed the rules of Wisconsin home ownership. Mulch in the spring. Mow weekly in the summer. The homes sat directly across from one another. The grey house flew a gay pride flag. The brown house had a Trump 2020 flag hanging in the window.

The owners always waved at one another when coming home from work, but that was mainly because all good Midwesterners wave at their neighbors. There is no background checking for waving in Wisconsin.

Trey had been married to his partner, Ronan, for 10 years. They had two dogs and a six-year-old son. They adopted their son from Guatemala when he was nine months old. Rudy was a good boy and loved going to school. Trey had read in the online news that school might be closing because of a virus that was spreading rapidly across the globe. Trey knew that Rudy would be devastated if he couldn’t see his teacher every day. He looked up from his iPad and saw Ronan walking down the hall toward him in the kitchen.

“Schools might be closing. Did you see this?”

Ronan came over to read the headlines from over Trey’s shoulder. His eyebrows pinched together as he processed the information.

“I haven’t received any emails from Rudy’s school about this, have you?”

Trey shook his head and walked over to pour coffee in his commuter mug.

“I’m going to ask the secretary in the school office about this today when I drop Rudy off at school.”

Trey went to Rudy’s room to make sure his reading log was in his backpack. Rudy bounded down the hall and stopped in front of Ronan.

“Daddy, today at school our teacher is bringing silkworms to our class so we can watch them make cocoons and turn into moths! Do you have any silk clothes?”

“No, Little Bear, silk is too hot for me.”

Rudy gave two hugs and two kisses to his dad and ran toward Trey’s car. The Spider Man and Dave and Buster’s key chains clinked against each other as Rudy jumped into the car.

The house fell quiet as Trey and Rudy pulled out of the driveway. Ronan remembered that he hadn’t gone to the mailbox yesterday. He shook off his slippers and put on his tennis shoes to make the trek across the street to the mailbox. As he walked down the driveway he saw his neighbor in the brown house walking toward his own mailbox. He wondered if his neighbor would chat him up. He decided to make the first move.

“Crazy weather we’ve been having, huh?”

The neighbor, Mr. Ross, did a double take and then realized that Ronan was talking to him.

“Yes, the high is 34 today and 65 tomorrow. Maybe I’ll wash my car tomorrow.”

Ronan was pleasantly surprised that Mr. Ross was speaking to him. As a 65-year-old Trump supporter Ronan wasn’t sure how accepting Mr. Ross would be of having gay neighbors.  He decided to take a chance and continue the conversation.

“Did you hear that the school might be closing?”

Mr. Ross shifted his weight to his left leg with quite a bit of effort. Ronan made a mental note of this.

“Yes, I saw that in the newspaper. What will you do with your little boy?”

Ronan was shocked that Mr. Ross was acknowledging that he and Trey were raising a child together. Ronan decided to give Mr. Ross the benefit of the doubt and confide his concerns about his son to his neighbor.

“Frankly, I can’t imagine Rudy not going to school every day. He loves school and he loves his teacher.”

Mr. Ross smiled and nodded his head in a friendly way.

“My granddaughter is the same way. She pretends she is a teacher and has school with her stuffed animals in her bedroom.”

Ronan was enjoying the conversation and felt very at home talking to Mr. Ross. He considered making up an excuse to go inside and then he decided to be open-minded since he always wished people would be open-minded with him.

“Where does your granddaughter live?”

Mr. Ross took a moment to shift his weight to his right leg.

“She lives in Browndeer. My daughter and her family come over for supper every Sunday so I get to see her every week.”

Ronan felt a pang of jealousy. He wished his parents could be a bigger part of Rudy’s life. Ronan’s parents lived in Texas and didn’t have a big budget for traveling. They only saw Rudy twice a year.

“Your granddaughter is really lucky to see her grandparents so much.”

Mr. Ross ran his hand through his beard.

“I think we are the lucky ones. Savannah has been a gift to us.”

Mr. Ross’s words almost made tears prick Ronan’s eyes and Ronan felt embarrassed to feel so emotional over a trip to the mailbox. Mr. Ross and Ronan said their goodbyes and Ronan began walking back to his home with his mail in his hand. He gathered his thoughts together. Had he misjudged Mr. Ross? 

That night at dinner Trey announced that tomorrow would be the last day of school and that Rudy would begin homeschooling on Monday. Ronan was in complete shock. Homeschooling? How will that work? 

Trey and Ronan spent the weekend going though the schoolwork that Rudy’s teacher had sent home. Half of the technology in the handouts was foreign to both Trey and Ronan. Rudy was sent home with an iPad and Trey and Ronan looked through all of the apps they were supposed to use. By Sunday night, Trey insisted they take a break from trying to understand the schoolwork. Ronan looked at is beautiful boy and hoped he could do a good job as his teacher.

The next day Ronan went to get the mail and Rudy wanted to come with him. Rudy slipped on his SpongeBob Crocs and Ronan slipped on his tennis shoes. Ronan held Rudy’s hand. Rudy jumped and pointed at every living creature he saw in the yard. Ronan smiled inwardly at the easy joy that Rudy had. He noticed Mr. Ross moving toward his mailbox.

“Looks like your boy has a new teacher!”

Ronan laughed and nodded.

“Yes, I hope I survive. I can’t make heads or tails of most of the technology.”

Mr. Ross ran a hand through his beard.

“My granddaughter understands my iPhone better than I do!”

Ronan laughed and opened his mailbox. As he stooped to look into his mailbox, he caught a sharp movement out of the corner of his eye. He looked up to see Mr. Ross lying on the ground grimacing.

“Mr. Ross, are you okay? Are you hurt?”

Ronan knelt down next to Mr. Ross. Rudy dropped the stick he had found and knelt by his dad’s side.

“Is Mr. Ross okay, Daddy?”

Ronan looked at his son and looked back at Mr. Ross.

“Mr. Ross, do you want me to help you inside?”

Mr. Ross nodded his head. He let Ronan know that he had a wheelchair just inside his front door. Ronan told Rudy to stay by Mr. Ross’s side and he ran and got the wheelchair. Ronan got Mr. Ross into his house and checked him over for cuts and bruises. He took down Mr. Ross’s phone number and asked if he could call that evening to check on him. Mr. Ross nodded. 

The next morning Mr. Ross was using his walker to get to his mailbox. Ronan and Rudy waved at Mr. Ross and asked how he was doing.

“My body feels much better today but my spirits are low because I found out that my granddaughter can’t come over to my house any more because of the virus.”

Rudy looked up at his dad with empathy in his eyes.

“I’m so sorry to hear that, Mr. Ross. I sure hope Rudy and I can continue chatting with you at the mailbox every day. It’s really great to connect with people during this time of uncertainty.”

Mr. Ross looked at Rudy and smiled.

“Getting the mail will be the best part of my day.”