On Dad's final day of work, it took him well into the evening to complete his rounds because at least one member from each family was waiting at their mailboxes to thank him for his friendship and his years of service.“Two hundred and nineteen mailboxes on my route,” he used to say, “and a story at every one.” One lady had no mailbox, so Dad took the mail in to her every day because she was nearly blind. Once inside, he read her mail and helped her pay her bills.
Mailboxes were sometimes used for things other than mail. One note left in a mailbox read, “Nat, take these eggs to Marian; she's baking a cake and doesn't have any eggs.” Mailboxes might be buried in the snow, or broken, or lying on the ground, but the mail was always delivered. On cold days Dad might find one of his customers waiting for him with a cup of hot chocolate. A young girl wrote letters but had no stamps, so she left a few buttons on the envelope in the mailbox; Dad paid for the stamps. One businessman used to leave large amounts of cash in his mailbox for Dad to take to the bank. Once, the amount came to $32,000.
A dozen years ago, when I traveled back to my hometown on the sad occasion of Dad's death, the mailboxes along the way reminded me of some of his stories. I thought I knew them all, but that wasn't the case.
As I drove home, I noticed two lamp poles, one on each side of the street. When my dad was around, those poles supported wooden boxes about four feet off the ground. One box was painted green, and the other was red, and each had a long narrow hole at the top with white lettering: SANTA CLAUS, NORTH POLE. For years children had dropped letters to Santa through those holes.
【2017高考英语三轮冲刺阅读强化训练32】相关文章:
★ 安徽省淮南市2014高考英语一轮单项选择及文章训练(3)及答案
★ 湖南省汝城二中2014届高考英语一轮复习阅读训练 (23)
★ 2017高考四川省广安市英语阅读理解一轮系列训练:12(含解析)
★ 辽宁省辽阳市2014高考英语单项选择一轮(暑假)训练(10)附答案
★ 安徽省淮南市2014高考英语一轮单项选择及文章训练(5)及答案
★ 辽宁省辽阳市2014高考英语单项选择一轮(暑假)训练(15)附答案
★ (全国通用)2014届高考英语一轮单元复习 限时强化训练十一
最新
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-24
2017-04-21
2017-04-21