C. O. D .

Kathy lived and worked her whole life in Wheeling, West Virginia. She worked at the local post office as a mail carrier. The carriers walked “the beat.” Most of the mailboxes are either a slot on the door, by the door or lined the sidewalk. Kathy entered the post office to pick up her mail bag in order to start her day. “Joe” Kathy called to the man that sorted the mail, separating the bags for the carriers. Joe did not answer, Kathy looked around the corner in the mail room and did not see Joe. “Joe!” she called out again, this time Joe entered yelling back, “Gosh, can’t anyone use the restroom in this place in peace. Joe was an older gentleman, he worked at the post office for the past twenty five years he was clearly overweight and what little hair he had left was all gray. Kathy couldn’t help but think, he must be getting close to retirement. “Hi Joe, what do we have going on today? Anything special? Kathy asked. “No, just another boring day,” Joe responded as he picked up more mail to sort. As Joe was sorting, Kathy made herself a cup of coffee, the energy drink for starting the day. “ Yeah, help yourself “ Joe muttered, “I’ll be glad when you carriers start adding to the coffee fund, you know, I pick up the coffee, they don’t pay me for it, and I make it. All you carriers do is come in and drink it.” “Okay, Okay” Kathy answered, “here” as she tossed him a quarter. Joe returned the quarter to her, “for you, it’s free.” Joe said. Kathy knew that Joe was really a sweet old man, he just liked playing the tough guy.

“Well, look here.” Joe said, “what is this?” He turned to show Kathy a box that looked like the address was written in a bold red crayon. The letters were rugged and looked like a child wrote it. Kathy took the box from Joe and looked it over. “ Joe, I don’t think that’s red ink, it looks like it was written with something wet, see around the letters on the paper, it looks like it absorbed whatever was used.” “ Huh, you’re right. What do you think it is? Joe looked concerned. “I’m not sure, let’s look at the return address.” Kathy looked at Joe and with a stammer in her voice, Joe there is none.” Joe grabbed the box, “ let me look at it” Joe looked, hoping to see an address that Kathy missed. But no such luck. “You’re right.” Joe placed the box on the table, feeling uneasy about the box. “ Okay, now we’re just being silly, it’s just a box with a weird looking address written on it, where is it going? Kathy asked. Joe looked at the box and read the address on it. It’s addressed to C.O.D. Four Twenty Six East Twenty Ninth Street, “you know that big house on the hill.”

”What, that’s my route, I deliver on that street and they never get any mail.” Kathy revealed with an uneasy sounding voice. “Kathy, what do you think is in it?” Joe was becoming more curious about the box. He was more intrigued, because that address never received mail of any kind in all the years he has been the mail sorter. He looked at Kathy and stated, “I really want to open this box, we can always re-seal it.” “No!” Kathy couldn’t believe Joe would even think of such a thing. “That’s what I was thinking, as Kathy started laughing, I never thought you would think of a thing like that!” After about an hour of talking, debating, they decided to open the box.

“Are you sure about this?” Kathy asked Joe. “No, not really, but you must omit that this is a mystery. I have never seen any mail going to that address, not an electric bill, water bill, gas bill or trash bill, so why now? I was under the impression the house was empty. That’s why I think we should open it.” “Okay, Joe, let’s do this,” Kathy answered with some excitement. As Joe retrieved the box from the table, he slowly walked over to the counter where Kathy was standing with a box cutter. Joe placed the box on the counter and told Kathy to go ahead and open it!” “No way!” Kathy looked at Joe, “it’s your idea.” “ Yeah, but you had the same idea.” Joe said “Well I can’t, I’m nervous, you know we will be breaking the law, “Okay, give me the knife, I will do it.” As Joe took the knife from Kathy and started to cut the box open, Kathy grabbed his arm and pointed to the front door. There stood a very old woman, draped all in black, and wearing a hood. Joe and Kathy could see that her skin was so wrinkled that she did not look real, it also looked like she had a beard, she was slightly bent over and Kathy noticed the walking stick in her left hand, the ones you see in old photos of witches. The walking stick was black and carved with what looked like heads of screaming people all over it. Kathy couldn’t pull her eyes from it, it was as though she was in a trance. Finally the old lady spoke. “Afternoon, I understand this is where I come to pick up packages that are mailed me, it was as if she had never been in a post office before. Her voice sounded old and evil, she looked at Joe, then at Kathy, who was still looking at the walking stick. The old lady pointed to the box that was still between Joe and Kathy, I believe that belongs to me. Both Joe and kathy looked down at the box, then at each other, both were thinking, how could she know that this is “her box?” Joe finally spoke, Ma’am, how can I help you? “I said,” again the old lady pointed to the box, “I believe that box belongs to me.” Can I ask for your name and address?” Joe asked, stumbling over his words. “My name is Caroline Odessa Davis and I live at Four Twenty Six East Twenty Ninth Street, the house on the hill. “Oh, yes I do believe this is your box, we were just checking to make sure it was addressed correctly.” Joe, still stumbling over his words. “Here you are Ma’am, can I ask what is in the box? I don’t remember any mail ever going to that address.” The old lady looked at Kathy and Joe,” you will know soon enough, everyone in this town will soon know!” She turned and cackled a laugh, then she disappeared. After a few seconds Kathy shouted out “I GOT IT!!!”

C.O.D…..Caroline Odessa Davis.

”