The mail carrier, a young man named Marcus, did not drop the letters into the box by the porch. He leaned out of his mail truck, his engine idling with a low, rhythmic rattle in the morning air.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese were mixed in with yours, Arthur,\u201d Marcus said, handing me a small bundle. \u201cI figured it was easier to give them to you than to loop back around the block.\u201d<\/p>\n
I took the envelopes from his hand. The top two were not addressed to me. One was addressed to Dorothy Iverson at number forty-two, and the other was for Priya Patel at number forty-five across the street.<\/p>\n
The return address on both envelopes was printed in a sharp, metallic silver font. It read Marisol Vance, followed by a post office box number in Columbus.<\/p>\n
I stood in the November chill, holding letters that were never meant for me.<\/p>\n
My sister had not lived in Elmwood for over twenty years, and she had never met Priya Patel.<\/p>\n
I walked down the driveway, my thumb tracing the embossed silver lettering on Priya\u2019s envelope. In my jacket pocket, my fingers found my yellow drafting pencil, rolling it over and over against my palm.<\/p>\n
The rusty iron latch on Dorothy\u2019s garden gate gave a sharp screech as I approached. Dorothy was already in her side yard, pulling dead clematis vines from her wooden trellis. She stopped her work and leaned heavily on the gate with both hands, her eyes scanning the street before settling on me.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou look like you found a beetle in the rose bushes, Arthur,\u201d Dorothy said, her gravelly chuckle dry in the cold air.<\/p>\n
\u201cJust some stray mail,\u201d I said. I handed her the silver-lettered envelope through the slats of the gate. \u201cMarisol seems to have sent you a card.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorothy squinted at the return address, her brow furrowing as she adjusted her grip on the wood. \u201cYour sister? I have not seen her since the funeral, and she barely spoke to me then. Why would she write to me now?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI was hoping you might know,\u201d I said, looking down at the dahlia beds where the dry stalks had already been cut back to the soil. \u201cShe has been calling our parents every Tuesday night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dorothy Iverson was already there, leaning heavily on the gate with both hands, her woolen gloved fingers curled over the latch. In her left hand, she held a bright red envelope with a gold foil border.<\/p>\n
\u201cArthur, I did not know Marisol was back in Ohio,\u201d Dorothy said, her gravelly voice dropping an octave as she tapped the envelope against the cedar post. \u201cShe sent this to my post office box, but the return address is your grandmother\u2019s house.\u201d<\/p>\n
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