Big spider web of connections

It was Friday morning. Char was sipping her take-away americano, when Marshall, her boss walked to her. He wanted her to teach the new kid who was arriving any minute all the basics in the office. Char had worked in the most popular post office of Brooklyn for over 4-years and training the newbies was part of her current role in there.

“Remember to teach him how to have fun too! We don’t want any serious energy here do we!”

Marshall was no typical of a boss. He was the funniest, most humorous boss Char could’ve ever asked for. When she came to work, she actually had fun there. It was not like in many of her other jobs she had worked before.

Char had some other dreams too, it was not like working in the post office was her dream, no. Why was she there?

She liked stories. She was obsessed with stories behind people. Writing was what she wanted to do, and in the post office, her imagination had space to wander. Where was this letter going? Was it for a lover? Was it from adopted girl to her birth mother? A simple birthday card to a friend? Who knows. She rarely asked from the customers, which she didn’t even care to do. She liked the imagination and leaving it being a mystery. Sometimes, the mystery is better than the truth. Or, at least more exciting. That’s what she thought.

Char liked training the newbies. She liked teaching others what she knew. Of course, she would’ve loved to teach writing, instead of post office tasks, but it was what it was. It was also interesting to learn the story behind the person who was starting. Each one had different dreams of them, different reasons to start their work.

This one, was a high-school student Lee. Lee was a very ambitious young man saving for his studies. What he dreamed of, was being a pilot. His parents weren’t one of the richest people, so Lee had been working on the side of his high-school for 2-years already. He used to be a waitress in one of the up & coming restaurants in Bronx, but his parents wanted him to have more of a day job than finishing late night sifts in the city.

Then, we have Margaret. Margaret was not working in the office, but she was a regular, almost daily visitor. For a few years already, she had been coming in as regular. She was around 40, but had become good friends with Char. She was herself a children’s book novelist, so she and Char had writing in common. Margaret was a lady who was friends with everyone. Why is that? Well, perhaps because she always delighted everyone with her bakings. Almost every time she came in, she brought freshly baked muffins or cake with her; Combined with lattes from next door. She was a literal sunshine to everyone’s days.

Char knew Marshall had a huge crush on her, but he was feeling shy to make a move. Margaret was one of those women who everyone fell in love with, so Marshall thought he had no chance. He was a very attractive man and usually very confident, but when Margaret came in, he lost his confidence completely. For 2-years, she had brightened her day, but never had they spent time outside of the post office. Char find it kind of beautiful actually. That’s because of his love for stories. “Post-office romance”. She had sketched even some short stories around them. Obviously the end was going to have them together, probably going to birth a child in the office too. Well, maybe not that part.

Lee, the new kid arrived 10:10 am. His shift was suppose to start at 10. Well, the young ones, often arriving late. Char actually was up for that, having little looseness. She hated tight schedules. She loved freedom more and that’s why she and Marshall also had an agreement it was okay if Char arrived anything between 9-9:30, then she shall just leave that time later what she arrived. Fair enough, she thought.

Lee had baggy denim type pants on, sandals, and a kind of fancy like shirt on, but it looked perfect amount of fancy and perfect amount of casual at the same time. This kid had some style Char thought.

Lee arrived so confidently in, not in an egoistic way, but he just had this authentic, natural confidence in. Char felt little bit of jealousy. That was something she had to learn the hard way. Confidence I mean. She had lived her entire childhood and teenage years, and beginning of adult years shaming herself for who she was and who she wasn’t. Now she was in a good place with herself, but she really admired how a 17-year old had such a confidence in.

By lunch time, Lee had charmed everyone in the office. He fit in perfectly. Marshall was first a little skeptical of him, but that just seems to be the case from a man to another. But by the time he had shared of his love for golf, which Marshall was a huge fan of, they became friends. One similarity and boom, the knives were dropped. (Just to be clear, there weren’t actually knives, it was just Char’s imaginative metaphor for the situation.)

The post office was typically closed over the weekend, but this weekend was New York marathon weekend, so Marshall decided to keep the office open for possible tourist rush.

Well, it was saturday 2pm and not a single person had arrived yet. That’s it for the rush.

A moment later, Margaret arrived. Lee greeted her first, without knowing she was a regular visitor. Lee was extremely casual and chatted for a good moment. Char noticed how Marshall turned red when he saw Lee talking with Margaret. Margaret was laughing and laughing and Marshall’s face turned sadder and sadder. Char noticed this and felt little awkward over Marshall. I mean, Lee was just a 17-year old boy! There was no chance for him to start a romance with her. Char got up to greet Margaret. She explained to Lee how Margaret was a regular visitor for few years already. Lee found it fascinating and insisted everyone to have a coffee break right there and then, they didn’t have any customers after all. .

2 hours into talking, something weird had happened. They all realized some sort of long term connection between them. Lee’s mom was a hair dresser whom Margaret had gone every month for 10-years already. Marshall and Margaret had spent their childhood holidays in the same place in Connecticut, same holiday village. Margaret’s step dad on the other hand had been Char’s literature teacher in high school, the same high school Lee was at right now.

As they had been chatting for the last couple of hours, the weather outside had turned into a chaos. Heavy rain and thunder. Everyone outside seemed to be in madness.

Inside the post office was completely different scene. It’s like it was a magical place of calmness there. Laughter and connection. Lattes and carrot cakes. Surprises. Char looked around and realized. It was no typical post-office she was in. It was no coincidence she had been there for 4-years. This was all part of something bigger. What exactly, she did not know. But she was excited to find out. Day by day, what her destiny was and how come all these thought to be strangers had attracted each others to find out they had been connected somehow for years. Was it how the life worked? We are all connected to each others, all part of a big spider web, waiting to find the people whom we are meant to meet. Not by coincidence, but by a big universal plot. Is life just a pre planned game? God knows, but what Char knew was, she had a story for her first book.