At the post office, Jasmine and PT found the man who had worked behind the PO boxes had retired on Friday. He went Up North to live in a cottage by the lakes. The new PO Box woman, Cierra said. She didn’t have his number, but she knew his name. Louis Burgess. Disappointed, he checked both PO box 915 and 914, But there was nothing striking. Just the regular junk.
“Can you tell me who owns PO box 915?” he asked
“No I can not. What the hell do you think this is. Cierra said. “And what’s with all these noisy questions. I might be have to ask some questions soon, if you don’t start minding your own business.”
“Alright. Did he mention what he might be doing at all?” He asked
“I don’t know. He wasn’t my best friend…I think fishing though. The dude was always talking about fishing on his boat or some shit.”
“Do you know if he was connected to the owners of PO box 915.”
“Nope.” Cierra said as she took out her phone and began watching videos.
“Okay okay. What about Trevor? Does anyone named Trevor own PO box 915.”
“I don’t know. Why don’t you worry about 914, sir.”
“Alright fine, let’s go” Pt said to Jasmine and the turned to leave the Post Office.
“Wait, I’ll give you one more thing..” Cierra said a little more entertained now. “I think he lived above some coffee shop. The new one that opened up..”
“Oh. Cool beans.”
“Yeah that’s the one! Cool Beans!”
“Damn I think it’s closed.” He said when they got to the parking lot.
“What’s closed?” Jasmine sounded concerned
“The coffee shop. Who do you think that guy is?”
“I don’t know.. I’m worried about you. What about your place.. All your things are gone now. And Todd...” she said as 1 tear dripped down her face.
“Yeah poor guy.” He said gulping. He had blamed Todd’s disappearance on the fire.
“Do you need help moving in to your friend’s house?” Jasmine asked,
“No I think I’ll be fine. He’ll help me.”
“You seem out of it right now. You must be so stressed.” Jasmine said as she clutched his vibrating arm.”
“Oh.. I feel calm I guess. I think I’m gonna go for a drive. Maybe to a park.” He said
“Okay. Let me know if you need anything.”
She hugged him and then they parted in their separate cars. He got in his car and started driving West towards the more rural part of the town. He couldn’t tell if he was in shock or not. The fire had started in his house. It was his stovetop, the fireman had said to him. He couldn’t remember leaving it on, he hadn’t cooked anything for days. It was probably the complex’s fault he reasoned with himself. Not wanting to be the reason for displacing 5 whole apartments. Luckily nobody had died. As he drove, he stopped thinking about the fire. It slowly faded off, becoming something unimportant. And Jasmine. She wanted to comfort him and offer him help, but he didn’t want her help for some reason. After she seemed unwilling to hunt down the apartment, he no longer desired to be with her, but not in a hostile way. He just felt his body being pulled in another direction. He’d probably hang out with her tomorrow, when he’d feel normal again.
Oddly, he wasn’t too worried about having to live at Zach’s. It’s not like he was that attached to the apartment anyways. This new change excited him. No more dog to worry about and a nice change of scenery. Before he got that mysterious package form PO box 915 there was no change in his life. Each of the past 60 days were almost identical even the weekends. It also flew by. He was busy enough, but without things to look forward too. Never sad or happy. Just doing what he was meant to. He had developed some good habits during this period, even if it was an uninteresting phase in his life. He cooked dinner almost every night, he would consistently do laundry, sleep 8 hours every night. But there was no change. Ever since he opened that door, a whole cascade of events had bombarded him. It didn’t even matter whether they had good or bad outcomes, they were all thrilling. He was now addicted to change. Even though his apartment had burned down and he was with a beautiful cool woman who wanted to be with him, one second of stagnation in the parking lot had left a bad taste. Like watching Friends after the Godfather. He was now in a grand adventure. A life of meaning. He had always wondered what living with purpose was like and now he understood.
Tomorrow, Zach would help him move in and maybe he’d get some new clothes, but it was not all that worrisome to him right now. It was getting dark and he parked his car in a dimly lit park at the edge of town next to s school and a small neighborhood. He looked past the school and saw a trail leading in a dark forest. He heard the box hum from inside his glovebox. He grabbed it, wondering whether the humming was real or not. He stashed the box into his jacket pocket and started walking towards the woods. Now it felt like he was being pulled again. It wasn’t important that he knew why, but he did know it was a change.
